At ten, orphan Josie is sent to Blackthorn Hall to serve sickly heir Cillian. He raises her for years, never revealing her family was wrongfully executed—Cillian risked all, trading his scholarly path for a soldier's life to spare her. On her 20th birthday, she finds old separation papers; they confess their love. Learning her parents are gone, she brings medicine to a plague city, saving Cillian and thousands. The girl he shielded becomes the wife at his side.
