Following adventures she would sooner forget in the newly renamed New York, Mercia Blakewood is hopeful that she has gained the leverage with the king she needs to reclaim her family's home back in England. The breathtaking new world piques her curiosity and a burgeoning friendship with Clemency Carter, a local medicine woman, prompts Mercia to delay her return. Navigating an unknown landscape, the aftershocks still felt of revolution and restoration, and the uneasy relationship between the Puritan settlers and native Indians, proves complex. But when the virgin forests of New England are tainted by murder, Mercia will not rest until the killer is brought to justice.

February 1665. With winter passing, Mercia Blakewood is at last headed back to England from America, hoping to leave behind the shadow cast by death and heartache. She expects a welcome from the King considering her earlier, mostly successful, mission at his behalf, but the reception is hardly warm. More manipulation lies ahead and Mercia must accept a clandestine and uncomfortable role at the heart of the royal court to find a spy and traitor.