A fateful dream...Since childhood, Ariana Levesque has been haunted by a strange, frightening dream about a handsome young man and a dark, foreboding castle. But after a Gypsy fortune-teller divines a perilous destiny, Ariana finds herself caught up in a dangerous intrigue that began over two hundred years before she was born. A hazardous quest...After witnessing his father's nefarious murder, Malcolm Blackfriars makes a shocking discovery; his family lies under a baleful curse, and their shadowed past conceals a multitude of dark secrets. With his own life in jeopardy, Malcolm ventures upon a hazardous quest to learn the truth about his cryptic heritage. A ninefold key...Ariana and Malcolm are fated to meet and to fall passionately in love. But will their desperate search for a ninefold key unlock the deadly secrets of their past-or utterly destroy them both?