In 10th century France, 18-year old Cherine Cadet only knows one thing: that the life of a peasant isnβt a life at all. Tired of working in utter poverty for an unfeeling Lord, with only her indifferent family and love-struck best friend as company, Cherine dreams of the day she can run away from the future set-up for her, even if she knows thereβs no real escape from her destiny.
Then, in one brutal instance, everything changes. A Viking fleet led by the powerful nobleman and warrior, Rolf the Walker and his right-hand man, Erik the Axe, arrive on the shores of the Lordβs estate. In minutes, the entire land is up in flames, Cherineβs family and fellow serfs are killed, and Cherine comes dangerously close to death herself. She is saved only by the fierce Erikβbut a new lease on life comes with a cost.
Cherine becomes a slave to the Vikings, a fate she thinks is no better than the one she had before. But as she finds herself being shared between the two men, the savage and darkly handsome Rolf and the mysterious and sensual Erik, Cherine discovers that she too has a fiery warrior heart and that the flames that consumed her old life might burn them all to the ground.