After seven years outrunning enemies, friends, and his own soulcrushing memories, Brendan Douglas is risking everything on a desperate mission. He has vowed to thwart the evil mage Máelodor's plans to unlock the past and reshape the future; unfortunately, the precious treasure that is his key to success lies with a woman Brendan jilted seven years before.

A woman determined to find a life of her own . . .

When her golden-eyed childhood hero abandoned her at the altar--disappearing in a storm of magic and mayhem, destruction, betrayal, and disaster--Elisabeth Fitzgerald struggled to put away her humiliation and loss. Finally, she has found a new fiancé and a comfortable future. Then, the one man she thought she would never see again appears--among her wedding guests. Brendan Douglas has returned.

An inescapable destiny . . .

It's not just that Elisabeth is promised to another; Brendan knows he is drawing her into terrible danger. But he cannot resist the bewitching, brave, wholly unexpected woman his youthful nemesis has become. He promised to sacrifice everything, but is he willing to sacrifice Elisabeth?