After the bloody affair with spy master Rivera, Hildegard returns from pilgrimage still heart sore. The prioress sends her for a cure to the remote gothic priory at Handale. As a house of correction it lies in the middle of vast, dark woodland where rumours of a dragon terrorise the most hardened and sinful penitents. When Hildegard discovers the body of a young and handsome apprentice in the morgue she is told that he is the dragon's latest victim. At the same time assassins pursue King Richard's trusted courier across the bleak Yorkshire Moors and a secret meeting of the northern barons is being held at nearby Kilton Castle. Risking death and mutilation, Hildegard sets out to unravel the unholy links between these factions.