"... the said army of the pagans, after having taken York upon the kalends of November, spread themselves over the whole country, and filled all with blood and grief..."

- Simeon of Durham,

Aethelwin is a Peaceweaver.

As the niece of Osbert, the true King of Northumbria, she is betrothed to a southern lord in order to strengthen support against Aelle, the would be usurper of the Northumbrian throne.

Aethelwin finds herself not only on the wrong side of the ensuing civil war, but at the mercy of a family and a village who blame her for their hardships.

Then, just as she finds the means to change her fate, history intercedes.

Ivarr the Boneless and his two brothers, Halfdan and Ubba, have laid claim to York. Aethelwin is flung into a world of chaos and panic as she fights against the Danes and even her own people, to bring her brother out of his stronghold in the north to restore her beloved Northumbria.

But at what cost will she fight for a kingdom in the final throes of death?