The shifting sands of war and politics, love and ambition steer events into dangerous and unexpected directions. The third book in the continuing story of the Secret Samurai Trilogy. Bebe Bell is a modern Englishwoman time-slipped into the mind of samurai, Kai Matsuda, who is fighting for the future of his country in the civil war of the 1860's. Bebe has been absent from Kai's mind for a month and wonders if the link has been severed. Kenji has disappeared and is arrested for murder - he has no alibi. Someone from the past reappears in Bebe's life. Kai is imprisoned, being tortured and is dying of thirst. He cannot defend himself and longs for Yoshi . . . and Bebe. Yoshi goes to Edo but is afraid of the consequences of a new world that beckons . . . and wonders if the old man of Kyoto's prophesy can come true. Kenji must decide whether to be honest about his past as Bebe struggles with her duel life and a new understanding of it all. The future of the new world shifts on sand.