Phedre no Delaunay is a woman born with a scarlet mote in her left eye and sold into indentured servitude as a child. Pricked by Kushiel"s Dart means that she is chosen to forever experience pain and pleasure as one. Her path has taken a strange and sometimes dangerous course. She has lain with princes and pirate kings and battled a wicked temptress who is still determined to win the crown at any cost. All this time she has had the devoted swordsman Joscelin at her side, who has never violated the central precept of the angel Cassiel: to protect and serve. Now Phedre"s plans will put his pledge to the ultimate test, for she has never forgotten her childhood friend Hyacinthe. She has spent ten long years searching for the key to free him from his eternal indenture to the Master of Straits, a bargain with the gods that he struck so a nation could be saved. Phedre is determined to seize one last hope to redeem Hyacinthe, even if it means her death. Their search will take Phedre and Joscelin on a dangerous journey that will carry them to distant countries where madness reigns and souls are currency, and down a fabled river to a land forgotten by most of the world...And to a power so mi