How does a heart, crushed beyond despair, go on beating? Does it shut itself off from the world growing cobwebs of silence so it will never feel pain again? Does it turn to stone with ice for blood? Does it wallow in misery till it shrivels and dies? Or does it grow strong in revenge?

Revenge. It is surely a dragon. Hungry. Insatiable. It eats its own tail in a circle that feeds upon itself - revenge feeding revenge needing revenge. There was no end to the misery which borne it. So Teagan of Venetii chose to live it. She turned the hopeless sorrow that befell her and her husband two years ago into a vengeance that had a life of its own.

Teagan breathes and eats because she needs to feed the dragon. She lives on because she knows no other way. Ever foremost in her thoughts is the day she will strike down the men who wrecked havoc with her world and destroyed her family. One day, if the gods are just ...

Deep, very deep in her heart of heart, Teagan holds a precious hope that they will find their daughter, Rionach, only 15 years when taken from them that fatal night. There is no hope for their son, Faolan, victim of the vicious attack that destroyed a village and many lives. No hope of ever seeing him grow to manhood. No hope of Faolan taking his place in the world, marry and have children of his own. No hope left at all for the first born and only son brought to his parents bloodied and lifeless. At that moment, all of Faolan’s dreams were turned into dead hopes. Teagan and Brennos buried those dreams the day they buried their son.