Haunted by nightmares of England conquered and laid waste by Spanish troops, David Becket is doing his best to find out who is selling off England’s guns and gunpowder to Spain – surely it can’t be Lord Burghley, the Queen’s trusted Treasurer?

Meanwhile Simon Ames, now Anriques, has been arrested by the Inquisition and sentenced to the galleys while his wife, Rebecca, has launched a dangerous plot to find her husband in the ranks of the Armada.

All of them will be tested to the utmost and again, one of them will die.