In the cosmopolitan world of seventeenth-century Madrid, Captain Alatriste and his protégé Íñigo are fish out of water. But the king is determined to keep the captain on retainer and—as a veteran with no other livelihood—he must remain, even as his "employment" brings him uncomfortably close to old enemies. While Íñigo pursues an ill-fated romance with the lovely but sinister Angélica de Alequézar, Alatriste begins an affair with the famous, and famously beautiful, actress María Castro. However, he soon discovers that the cost of her favors may be more than he bargained for, especially when he and Íñigo become unwilling participants in a court conspiracy that could lead them both to the gallows. ...