The second instalment in a prize-winning series charting the rise of the House of Medici as they become Masters of Florence and progenitors of the Renaissance.

Lorenzo de' Medici is to be wed.

The marriage will cement a powerful alliance for his family.

But his heart belongs to another. Torn between love and power, he has become complacent. He has forgotten the bloody path he forged on his ascent to power, and the enemies left in his wake.

When the family's historical enemies and shadowy new conspirators put their bloody plot into action, the consequences will be terrible. In order to protect their supremacy, the Medici will enact a violent vengeance from which few will be spared.