WINTER OF SOLACE
A Medieval Romance
The Executioner Knights Series
By Kathryn Le Veque
When Caius d’Avignon is sent north at the request of a relation of William Marshal to help in a dispute between neighbors, he couldn’t have imagined how his life would change.
Caius is one of The Marshal’s premier knights, a man who served in The Levant with many of The Marshal’s agents. But he had one distinct difference– he’d been branded The Britannia Viper by the Saracen commanders for his hard strike. There is no one fiercer in battle. Therefore, William Marshal has great confidence that Caius will solve the situation– if not by diplomacy, then by the sword.
But Caius is caught off-guard by the situation when he arrives. The Marshal’s relation is an unscrupulous and cruel man who has all but decimated his neighbors and demands they be destroyed. When Caius speaks to the neighbor, the first thing he sees is a woman of astounding beauty.
Emelisse de Thorington is that woman.
Caius is drawn into the feud whether or not he wants to be. He comes to discover that The Marshal’s relative is wicked and has harassed a noble family for years while telling William Marshal something quite different. The man is a thief and a liar.
But Caius can’t tell The Marshal that without jeopardizing his relationship with the man or jeopardizing the safety of TheMarshal’s niece, who is married to him. There’s also the not-so-small fact that he’s fallen in love with the strong but battered Emelisse.
Will the seasoned knight choose love over his career?
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Here we are– Cai’s story, finally!
Britania Faybr.
The Britannia Viper.
The House of d’Avignon is a relatively new house in my world. We first saw it pop up inDevil’s Dominionin a secondary character, and then inVestiges of Valorwhen that was the heroine’s maiden name.
Originally– a very long time ago– it was the name of the hero inShadowWolfebefore it wasShadowWolfe– way back then, when I wrote the first ten chapters and put it aside for twenty years, the hero’s name was Curtis d’Avignon and the name of the novel was originallyWalls of Babylon– which I liked so much, I used on another de Wolfe Pack novel. Curtis was replaced by Scott de Wolfe and the story was rechristenedShadowWolfe.
Crazy how that all works, eh?
But I digress. I’m really excited to have a d’Avignon now heading up his own story because it was one of my original houses, and as I was writing this book, I kept saying to myself–Self? Wow, this is a hell of a story!
On to some super-fun trivia. A young William de Wolfe makes his appearance in this novel and we find out who he was named for. William was something of an unruly youth, as has been hinted at in some of the de Wolfe Pack books. Things about William and Paris and Kieran and the trouble they got into in their youth at Kenilworth Castle. I loved tying the House of de Wolfe into this series in this book because Edward de Wolfe– who has thus far been removed from William Marshal mostly– makes an appearance as the Earl of Wolverhampton.
Much of this story involves a place called Hawkstone Castle– that’s the prize. Although the castle is fictional, the location is not. Hawkstone Hall really does exist (it’s a boutique hotel with a history dating back to the 15thcentury) and it sits on lands called Hawkstone Follies, which is the basis for the holdings described in this book. It’s a very cool place to visit in real life and you can Google it to see what it’s all about– limestone caves, hiking, monuments, and other awesome things. It also has a tearoom named after my heroine’s brother– or is it the other way around? In any case, Caspian’s Tea Room exists. But to be perfectly transparent, it’s really named after Prince Caspian inThe Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobebecause the story was inspired by the Hawkstone Follies.
Since this is an Executioner Knights tale, I usually try to include several of the EK knights in the opening scene, and a few throughout the story. Not all of the EK knights can be in all of the stories. In this case, Maxton of Loxbeare, who has been removed from a few books in the series, makes a strong secondary character in this tale, which I love. We also meet a couple of new EK knights– Morgan de Wolfe, who is a cousin to William and a nephew to Edward, as well as Gareth de Llion, the son of Bretton and Allaston fromDevil’s Dominion. Gareth makes a brief appearance, but it’s a good foundation to establishhis character. He’s the grandson of Ajax de Velt (The Dark Lord), so you just know he’s going to be a badass.
Now, the standard pronunciation guide to help you navigate the names:
Emelisse– our heroine. The closest pronunciation I can come up with is Emma-liss (which my Spellcheck kept trying to change to “Emulous”. HUH????????)
D’Avignon– DAV-in-yawn (“a” in dav– as in the word “at”)
So, curl up with a good book– this one– and enjoy Caius and Emelisse’s epic tale. As I said– it’s a hell of a story!
Hugs,
House of D’Avignon motto
Fides et virtute
“Faith and Courage”
