Once upon a time, Don Simon Isidro, the oldest vampire in London, asked James Asher to help him save his fellow vampires and save himself. Now Lydia Asher asks Isidro for a return favor: following the trail of an Austrian spy, her husband fell into a deadly trap. Hoping To rescue him, Don Simon and Lydia set off on a journey that runs across the entire continent: from London to Vienna, and from there to Constantinople, where the living and the dead begin a struggle for power. And now the vampire and mortals will have to deal with a conspiracy where the fate of the entire British Empire is at stake... The second novel in Barbara Hambly's famous James Asher series, awarded the Lord Ruthven Prize, awarded for the best works about vampires.