In an enchanted kingdom before the dawn of time, where magic floated on the air as gently and swiftly as a butterfly, a princess made a crucial mistake that a descendant in medieval London must pay for.

With both parents dead, Lady Ariana of Clairmont began a journey to France to pay the ransom on her only brother's head, but was double crossed by Captain Ferrand de Paris who kills her only bodyguard and companion in the process. Rescued by Braedon le Chasseur, also known as the Hunter, a former knight scarred both physically and mentally by his past life, Ariana pulled her reluctant hero into her mission, disregarding his attempts to leave her.

The Hunter's heart was hardened against love yet Ariana's determined spirit and courage combined with her great beauty and natural sensuality tempted him. Thrown together on this adventure, alone on a small boat, a tavern room, in a dark forest, they each unwittingly bared their secrets to the other and found a trusted ally where there was once only suspicion.

Quite early it became clear to Breadon that there was more to this affair. The ransom for Ariana's brother was not money but "a pack full of scribblings and cryptic diagrams" that meant nothing to Ariana but a great deal to her brother, a former Knight of the Temple of Solomon. After they were attacked once more, Breadon searched Ariana's belongings. When he found the papers, he recognized them for what they really were: papers that could lead to the Dragon Chalice, an item of legend that held great magic and power; an item Breadon had once searched for himself. Breadon knew that Ariana's possession of these papers was the true cause of the attacks on them and that the attacks would not stop until the papers were turned over to the kidnappers. Such a quest, such responsibility was overwhelming yet it was much worse, for some of those who perused them were not . . . quite . . . human.

Braedon and Ariana escaped many confrontations with their adversaries but they knew it would never stop as long as it was possible for evil to gain possession of the Dragon Chalice. They decided to retrieve it themselves, but in doing so they forced their world to collide with the enchanted one, revealing secrets they would never have imagined.