Synopsis

Seville, 1498.

As the Inquisition’s grip on Andalucía tightens, Isaac and Isabel are forced to choose between family and faith. Will they survive the consequences of their choices?

Isabel feels conflicted by her father’s heresy and distressed by his quest for vengeance. Feeling abandoned by her father, she sets out to discover the truth. The trail takes her to the darkest places in Seville. She is unnerved by a shocking revelation and a surprising discovery about her real feelings. Can Isabel use what she has unearthed to save her father and their family?

Isaac seeks revenge on Torquemada for the murder of his wife and best friend. But he’s not the only one who wants The Grand Inquisitor dead. The King commands Isaac to investigate. If Isaac successfully prevents the assassination, he saves the man he hates. Fail and he will lose the King’s protection: the only thing keeping a heretic like Isaac from the terror of the Inquisition. After a perilous journey to Granada, he confronts both Torquemada and the truth about himself.

Extract

Isaac yearns for a place that no longer exists ó Seville before the Inquisition. A place where Torquemada did not call out the names of the heretics to be punished. Where Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand did not watch impassively as executioners smeared a blonde-haired girlís tunic with sulphur ó to quicken the journey of the flames from the crackling pyre at her feet. A twisted mercy. Where Isaac did not see white tendrils of smoke, hear shrill screams or smell the bitter stink of charred flesh. Where he did not witness Juanís body melt into the inferno. 

The Seville of his dreams is a blur of memory. Sunny afternoons with Juan spent swimming in the river, sword fighting, and wrestling. Sometimes Maria comes to him and those are the sweetest memories. But he is overwhelmed by the vision of his wife and he pushes her away, returning to play with Juan. 

Joy is fleeting and turns to guilt. Why should he be rewarded with visions of the good times? He had not saved his wife, had not defended his best friend. His penance is the sharp thrusts of pain in his chest as the horrors of Juan’s execution and Maria’s murder ash through his imagination. Each stab reminding him of his oath — I will make you pay, Torquemada, no matter how long it takes. 

Thanks to Random Things Tours for my copy of books one and two. Review to come…