AN ANCIENT EVIL RETURNS. THE HUNTSMEN OF MUSPELHEIM WANT THE CODEX LACRIMAE, SO THEY'VE SET A TRAP IN 12TH CENTURY CRUSADER LANDS TO GET IT!Believed lost for half a millennium, the Codex Lacrimae reappears when an old scholar brings the Dark Book to the Hospitaller castle of the Krak des Chevaliers. Unwittingly, that action leads the malevolent Huntsmen to the one person they've been seeking: Ríg, an apprentice who trains the warrior-monks in the castle's library, and seeks only a quiet existence because of a haunted past. The arrival of the Codex Lacrimae and its supernatural temptations will force Ríg to choose between the peaceful path of a priest or violent ways of a warrior.Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away, the Norns of Fate try to counter the Huntsmen's plot by casting a net around Clarinda Trevisan, a beautiful Venetian sea merchant's daughter who is content to sail with her father's fleet throughout the Mediterranean Sea. After her father disappears, Clarinda's attempt to solve the mystery pulls her into both Ríg's orbit and matters far greater than the cargoes and crews that usually occupy her time. The girl must learn the ways of war and magic to fulfill Fate's role, and confront strange creatures of Norse mythology, a nefarious Templar Grandmaster, the magical Nine Worlds, and a tempestuous relationship with Ríg himself.The return of the Codex Lacrimae unleashes a host of evils that might challenge even the most star-crossed of lovers. If Clarinda & Ríg can't stop the various forces in pursuit of the Dark Book, they'll find the worlds of the Multiverse at the brink of annihilation!