The youngest of the Lord High Warlock's heirs, Gregory, is asked to escort the witch Moraga to the Queen's witchery for inclusion into that most secret of societies. Along the way, the ever studious Gregory learns that Moraga is none other than Finister the evil head of SPITE on Gramerye whose goals include overthrowing the monarchy and killing Rod Gallowglass and all his progeny. He doesn't kill her, though, he simply ignores or deflects her attempts at seducing or killing him until he finds out that her intelligence, ingenuity and persistence have caused him to fall in love with her... So what happens with you're in love with an assassin who's been assigned to kill you when the two of you are alone?

Without the other books in the series, this one would never have existed. It's obviously an attempt to sew young Gregory up with a mate as well as to rehabilitate Finister and show her to be worthy of a Gallowglass. I think the revisitation of Finister's memories was interesting, but the rest didn't give me much to exult about. ( )