1325: There is turmoil in England. But could the Prophecy of St Thomas's Holy Oil save King Edward? It is believed that the king who is anointed with it will be a lion among men: he will conquer France, unite Christendom and throw the heathens from the Holy Land.

King Edward II has rejected his wife, Queen Isabella, confiscated her income, exiled her servants and taken away her children. Yet even now she is in France to negotiate peace with her brother, King Charles IV. Meanwhile, Sir Baldwin de Furnshill, Keeper of the King's Peace, and his friend Bailiff Simon Puttock return from France with an urgent instruction for the King.

Before long Baldwin and Simon find themselves at the centre of a deadly court intrigue involving the most powerful and ruthless men in the country, who will stop at nothing, not least murder, to achieve their ambitions...