The double-crosser's double-crosser, Charles is a scion of a branch of the French royal family that has renounced any claim on the throne. What the silver-tongued Charles wants for himself remains hidden, but he is "volatile, intelligent, charming, violent, cunning as a fox, ambitious as Lucifer and more truly than Byron mad, bad and dangerous to know.... His only constancy is hate."

One of Charles' first targets was the King of France's favourite minister, whom he had assassinated by thugs. Solemn public ceremonies of reconciliation are one of Charles' fortes, as is making contradictory deals with each side of a conflict at the same time.

There really is something of the madman in him and he enjoys conflict just for the chance to exercise his many combative talents. He is a skilled warrior and a scathing detractor, able to spin a line of cruel invective to set a nun to weeping or a sailor to blushing. As cruel and cold as he can be, he can also be passionate and compelling. His blue eyes flash with seductive light and the ladies swoon, eager for his touch.

He speaks airily of 'courtly' love, a game in which the lady is admired from afar without being sullied, but the moment he is alone with a woman, he is a mauler and a masher with roaming hands and a casual disinterest in fidelity or the state of holy matrimony. The ladies of King Desmond's court have learned to their chagrin to avoid secret assignations. But a newcomer might not be so well informed.