To save the life of Freydis, Leif agrees to join Canute and Harald's siege of London. Queen Emma dispatches stepson Edmund to secure an ally's help.

Leif proposes an audacious assault on London, one that Emma and Godwin fear their brash and headstrong boy-king, Edmund, will be too reckless to defeat.

Schemes, betrayals and politics rule the day as a new monarch takes the throne of England. Leif is hailed as a hero but secretly questions his faith.