Swan leaned down and kissed her without a word – possibly the boldest thing he’d ever done. Even as her lips explored his, her eyes – wide open – acknowledged that he had been bold, and for a moment he thought that perhaps – perhaps – he had the entire thing wrong and she was going to scream.

She stood up into his arms. She was as strong as a man.

For a moment, with her gold-flecked eyes open under his, Tom Swan’s world was utterly perfect.

Then the bells of the town began to ring – and then the bells on the fortress chapel.

‘Oh,’ she said.

They both laughed. There was no other possible reaction.

A voice in the courtyard yelled, ‘The Turks! The Turkish fleet!’

Swan turned and gathered her in his arms, and she put her hands behind his head. ‘I think you should come back,’ she said. ‘Heroes generally bore me, but you seem—’ she sighed. ‘Like Odysseus,’ she said. ‘Don’t die,’ she added.

Can Tom Swan get the girl? And which girl? Can he stay alive while he catches the traitor, steals the ring, saves the English family aboard the Katherine Sturmy and arranges for the defeat of the Turks?

Probably not. It may be enough if he lives – to get home to his wife.

Also By Christian Cameron

Tom Swan and the Head of St George

Volume One: Castillon

Volume Two: Venice

Volume Three: Constantinople

Volume Four: Rome

The Tyrant Series

Tyrant

Tyrant: Storm of Arrows

Tyrant: Funeral Games

Tyrant: King of the Bosporus

Tyrant: Destroyer of Cities

The Killer of Men Series

Killer of Men

Marathon

Poseidon’s Spear

Other Novels

Washington and Caesar

God of War

No money. No birthright. No mercy.

Meet William Gold . . .

Read CHRISTIAN CAMERON’S new novel set in the Hundred Years War

Out in hardback and ebook August 2013

Copyright

An Orion eBook

First published in Great Britain in 2013 by Orion Books

This eBook first published in 2013 by Orion Books

Copyright © Christian Cameron 2013

The moral right of Christian Cameron to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the copyright, designs and patents act 1988.

All characters and events in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN: 978 1 4091 4561 5

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