He has never feared death— not in battle, not in tournaments, not even the death he now faces. What he fears is oblivion and the fickle forgetfulness of history; or, worse, that his reign is remembered as a failure. Emperor Maximilian I launches an obsessive campaign, using the finest artists of his time, to manipulate future ages, and make certain history gets it right.
When a new court musician named Catherine de Croÿ enters his service, her presence stirs up memories of the one perfect love of his life. While he's wooed by her seductive music, he hatches an audacious plan that will change the course of her life and put the crown on his memorial project. But she has another plan entirely.