Prologue and Chapter One Summary

Set in Glenroe Forest in 1735, Serena MacGregor is a young child who is disappointed not to have been allowed to go hunting with her brother and father. After setting fire to neighboring houses, Captain Standish and his dragoons break into their house, striking Fiona MacGregor and locking Serena in the nursery with her younger siblings. Threatening Fiona with a false accusation against her husband, Standish rapes her violently. Serena comes to her naked mother's aid, wrapping her in a blanket, and taking care of her siblings. Serena vows revenge against the English.

London, 1745

The Earl of Ashburn, Brigham Langston has received a smuggled letter from Prince Charles Stuart informing him that the time had come to fight for the reinstatement of the Stuart crown, which has been unjustly usurped by German Hanover regime, a pretender to the...