Harald is King of England. Harthacnut still embattled against the pretensions of King Magnus of Norway and, fighting to keep hold of Denmark. Lady Emma, the Queen Dowager, is in exile with Count Baldwin in Bruges, while Earl Godwine has accepted that Harald is the rightful king and England lies peaceful.Or does it?There are persuasive undercurrents in the English Witan. Earl Leofric thinks himself safe and secure, his loyalty to the king assured, but Harald is less than pleased with Leofric's kind treatment of the Queen Dowager. Ever alert to a weakness in his rival, Earl Godwine grows closer to King Harald, while Leofric, vigilant of Earl Godwine's duplicitous nature, watches from afar, distrusting the supposed discord between him and the Queen Dowager he witnessed when she was banished from England.England too is threatened, by the growing power of Gruffydd Ap Llewelyn on the border with the Welsh kingdoms, and from the North by Donnchaid Mac Crinain of the kingdom of the Scots. But when everything seems to have come undone for Earl Leofric and his son, fate will deal a mighty blow that could save the House of Leofwine.The Earl's King is the eighth book in the epic Earls of Mercia series.