A devastating plague is sweeping through Europe, taking the lives of peasants and nobility alike. Not even the sea can prevent this deadly threat from reaching King Edmund's England. No one is safe - not even the powerful and mysterious Earl of Pengraid, one of the kingdom's wealthiest men. As news of the plague spreads, fear engulfs the earl's household, including Maeb Langtofte, newly arrived to serve the earl's wife. The plague's victims spontaneously burst into flames - as if the fires of Hell have arisen to engulf them, the servants whisper. Some claim it is the Devil himself to blame. Rising terror breeds civil unrest across the land, forcing the king to summon Pengrain and the other lords to London with their warriors. Left to fend for themselves, the earl's family and servants soon soon discover that it is not only their lives that are in danger. As for young Maeb, the Devil himself may indeed have arrived...and worse, what he demands may not just be her soul, but the life that runs through her very veins.