THE QUEST FOR SECRETS HAD DESTROYED ONE MAN SHE LOVED. HER HEART COULD NOT BEAR TO LOSE ANOTHER. Isidora Binte Deogel had lost her father to alchemy, only to see Sir Lucien de Griswold willingly tread the same dangerous path. And now a cruel irony had made him her soul's desire and her the agent of his doom! THE NEED FOR ATONEMENT HAD DRIVEN LUCIEN DE GRISWOLD TO FORSAKE ANY CHANCE AT LOVE. But did Providence have a different fate in store for him? He looked upon Isidora and saw not the daughter of his loremaster nor the guardian of great mysteries, but the only woman who could transform the leaden pain in his heart into golden joy!