A candlemaker is all Lydia Wade wants to be, but in 1299 a woman can only be part of the artisan guild if her dead husband was a member. A woman can work beside her husband in the guild if he allows it. Lydia does not want a husband living or dead. Her father has betrothed her to his much abused apprentice, Jacob. Marriage is a fate she has no hope of escaping until a long kept secret propels her into a different life.