who never hesitate to answer questions like
“How would you pick a handcuff lock?”
“Can I get away with a food fight in a medieval?”and
“Does this description sound like a roundhouse kick?”
Amy Atwell, Kirby, and Jill Glass,
whose talent, integrity, and reliability
keep my anxiety at bay
Becca Syme,
who helped me recover my JoieDeVotion
and blesses me with her brilliance
Glynnis Campbell’s Readers Clan
for their love and loyalty
Peanut (RIP),
for being the best little writing buddy
Tom Holland and Tatiana Maslany
for their inspiration
Chapter 1
Perth, Scotland
Spring 1160
The best thing about being a nun was the invisibility.
Eve tucked a stray wisp of her chestnut hair under her plain white veil.She lowered her eyes to the damp sod, her manner dutiful, humble.With her tresses hidden, and her feminine curves obscured by a nondescript gray habit, she was completely unnoticeable.Dull.Ordinary.No more conspicuous than a dead autumn leaf blowing along the ground.
Now she could venture wherever she willed without drawing attention.Which was how she managed to steal her way into the middle of the angry throng gathered before Perth Castle.
No one gave her a second glance as she wove her way through camps of striped clan pavilions, sparring soldiers, and muttering lairds.She attracted no attention as she shuffled past them all.Men-at-arms sharpening their weapons.Horses in harness stamping the sod.Maids in greasy aprons cooking oatcakes over scattered fires.
She’d learned about the siege at Perth at the nunnery.Her convent sisters might not be the most worldly women.But they had an ear for news and a penchant for gossip.
Word was King Malcolm had at last returned from abroad and was back home in Scotland.
Many of his lairds, however, were unhappy.They felt young Malcolm had made too many gestures of friendliness toward King Henry of England.At Toulouse, he’d even dared to side with Henry against Scotland’s ancient ally, France.
Rumor had it Malcolm had courted Henry’s affections simply for the honor of being knighted by the powerful king.If that had been the end of it, his moment of youthful vanity and hero worship might have been forgiven by the lairds.But to further appease Henry, Malcolm had offered to return to the English king some of the Scots lairds’ hard-won clan lands.
Six of the malcontent lairds had therefore gathered troops to lay siege to Perth Castle, where the Scots king currently resided.They hoped to force Malcolm to renounce his alliance with Henry and to secure the return of their holdings.
It was a challenging situation.King Malcolm could hardly go back on his word and undermine his new friendship with Henry.But as Eve passed through the ranks of clansmen, she heard their bitterness, their animosity.They felt betrayed by their king.The king to whom they’d once sworn an oath of fealty.
As Eve saw it, there was just one thing that transcended loyalty to king and clan.
