Elizabeth Loupas returns with her most ambitious historical novel yet, a story of intrigue, passion, and murder in the Medici Court...
April, 1574, Florence, Italy. Grand Duke Cosimo deβ Medici lies dying. The city is paralyzed with dread, for the next man to wear the red lily crown will be Prince Francesco: despotic, dangerous, and obsessed with alchemy.
Chiara Nerini, the troubled daughter of an anti-Medici bookseller, sets out to save her starving family by selling her dead fatherβs rare alchemical equipment to the prince. Instead she is trapped in his householdβimprisoned and forcibly initiated as a virgin acolyte in Francescoβs quest for power and immortality. Undaunted, she seizes her chance to pursue undreamed-of power of her own.
Witness to sensuous intrigues and brutal murder plots, Chiara seeks a safe path through the labyrinth of Medici tyranny and deception. Beside her walks the princeβs mysterious English alchemist Ruanno, her friend and teacher, driven by his own dark goals. Can Chiara trust him to keep her secretsβ¦even to love herβ¦or will he prove to be her most treacherous enemy of all?
Π€ΠΈΠΊΡΠΈΡΠ° ΠΈ ΠΊΡΠΈΠΆΠ΅Π²Π½ΠΎΡΡ