Note: The free card offer mentioned on the back cover expired September 1, 1997.

Synopsis: Cerise was a cardmaster: splashy, gay, extravagant, and deadly. A flamboyant vagabond, she wielded magic-bearing cards for her own profit and others, in small games of chance or even in the lord's Great Games. She was a weapen master, too - to protect the cards and the intermittent wealth they brought her. Byron was pale, cold, dour, and desperate. He looked as if demons were after him, which they were. A cardsmiths apprentice, he already could imbue cards with magic and could decode spells other cardsmiths had hidden in cards - but he was powerless against the forces chasing him. But powerless or not, hunted or not, he had a hot hand - and Cerise wanted him. It was either the beginning of a beautiful friendship - or something deadly.