To the people of Kislova, Baron Janosk was a tyrant, but to young Ilsabet, he was simply Father. When the baron was summarily executed, the people cheered, but Ilsabet wept… and plotted revenge. The benevolent new ruler could not have known that the blade stroke of an instant would open the wound of a lifetime. But Ilsabet knew, and she kept the wound festering. She worked her revenge slowly and sweetly, a revenge like the best of poisons….