In a shabby house in the new capital of Madrid, a lowly kitchen scullion hides a gift for little miracles. But when her employer discovers Luzia Cotado´s secret talent, she demands Luzia use her illusions to win over the royal court. Determined to forge a better life for herself, Luzia plunges into a world of power-hungry nobility, desperate kings, holy men, and hucksters, where the lines between magic, science, and fraud blur. With the pyres of the Inquisition burning, she must use every bit of her wit and will to win fame and hide the truth of her ancestry--even if that means enlisting the help of the notorious Guillén Santángel, whose own secrets could doom them both.