It begins with a severed finger and with a gift in Winter. Not realisingthat she is being courted by a faery suitor, The Bride enters the cold andsparkling world of the Prince of Spiders. She takes the severed finger, unawarethat such gifts carry consequences, and finds herself trapped. The Prince ofSpiders rules this land of dreams, lost in glittering snow. As a Winter King, heshould end his reign by dying at the coming of Spring. Until now he has delayedthis by offering the blood of artists and poets to the ancient spirits of theland, eeking out his season long beyond its time. But now he has a more daringplan in his heart... a plan that is thwarted by the disappearance of his humanbride.