Warwickshire, England, 1260. Will Talbot is leaving home at fourteen to spend the next few years in training at nearby Kenilworth Castle as a squire. Kenilworth is the home of the ambitious Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, who is married to Eleanor, the youngest sister of King Henry III. Will's adjustment to life at the castle is made easier by his growing love for Stephen, the young chaplain's clerk he shares a spartan chamber with. But in the years after Will and Stephen are unexpectedly separated, Will's life becomes more complicated. Despite his vow to reunite with Stephen once knighted, he allows himself to grow closer to Simon, the Earl's charming and charismatic second son, whom he serves as a squire. As Simon's intentions toward him become clearer and impossible to resist, and the political stakes around the Montforts grow ever higher, Will is faced with a painful choice. Set against the tense backdrop of the Second Barons' War of 1264-67, and the battles of Lewes and Evesham, Will must navigate a world that he wasn't prepared to enter and decide for himself what, and who, is really worth fighting for.