Normans and Saxons fight and die for control of the destiny of a future empire, and Harold of Wessex—second son of one of the sundered nation's most powerful noble families—is thrust into the vortex of a battle royal for the English throne. To wear the crown, however, he must forsake his peaceful life with his adored, hand-fasted wife, Lady Edith of Nazeing, the only woman he will ever truly love. But throughouthis reluctant ascendance to supreme leadership of an embattled kingdom—and the concurrent rise of old-friend-turned-adversary William of Normandy, soon to be called "the Conqueror"—Harold will not betray his heart or his lady, though war be their legacy and tragedy their fate.