In this rousing historical adventure set in the Tudor court, we are swept back to the final days of Edward VI's reign, and a time of danger, deceit, and courage. Brendan Prescott, a foundling reared in Dudley household, arrives at court to serve as a squire to the arrogant Lord Robert Dudley. Keen and ambitious, Brendan hopes to gain advancement in his new post - until Lord Robert dispatches him on an illicit mission to the King's enigmatic sister, the Princess Elizabeth, and Brendan discovers that nothing in his world is as it appears. A dark plot brews around Elizabeth's quest to unravel the truth about her brother King Edward VI's disappearance. Lured into her service as a spy, with only a bold stable boy and audacious lady-in-waiting at his side, Brendan plunges into a ruthless gambit of half-truths and lies, pitted against the wiles of a vengeful opponent who may hold the secret of his own mysterious birth - a secret that could shatter everything he believes in, and cast an inescapable shadow over him, Elizabeth, and the future of England itself. Filled with the intrigue and pageantry of Tudor England, The Secret Lion is the first book in The Spymaster Chronicles. This new edition features the Two Bridges Press Reader's Group Guide.