It is 1657, and 24-year-old Marquis Jehan Beaudelaire - Avignon's most striking and sought-after bachelor - is in desperate need of a wife, an heir, and, most urgently, a new valet.

Enter Jonathan Kryk, a vision of breath-taking beauty.

Despite his immense wealth and high status, Jehan finds himself ensnared by the rigid constraints of his era and social rank. His longing for the man who tends to him daily, who dresses and bathes him, remains an impossible dream.

Spies lurk everywhere - can he trust anyone in his household, even...