Still reeling from the traumatic events of Pawn in Frankincense, Lymond decides to flee from them, moving to Muscovy, where he becomes adviser and general to the half-mad tsar. He swiftly finds himself battling a Cossack prince and Crimean Tartars. Yet even as Lymond tries to navigate the machinations of a dangerous and unfamiliar royal court, unseen forces conspire to enlist this infinitly useful man in their own schemes. Lymond's past is catching up to him, and inevitably it will compel him to return to face the family he's forsaken, the woman he imprudently married, and the country that still owns him, body and soul. -- page 4 of cover
