Description
"I care not a whit for the norms of the many, my lady. I care for people. A person is real. 'The Many' is a fiction, and its strictures serve but a few." (This is the second book of The Saint and Martyr Cycle, sequel to The Lady at the River's Edge) Erzsebet has made her way to Croatia, into the court of Andras, Prince of Hungary. Despite earlier rebellions against the crown, the prince has found a tentative peace with his elder brother, King Imre, but it is not the promise of peace that brings Erzsebet to the prince's court. Her parents are yet captives of Palatine Benedek, whose authority is second only to the king--and so her best hope for freeing them is to win the favor of a man who might defy the crown, who might see laws shattered and the kingdom upended. No, she has not come for peace, but for justice, at whatever the cost. If it takes winning the heart of the prince to see her parents to safety, so be it. There is only one problem: he is already engaged. Gertrude of Merania has been promised to the prince. A woman of surpassing beauty, whose family holds positions of power all across Europe; she will not relinquish her betrothed without a fight. She is already established in the court, with powerful allies and a horde of servants at her beck and call. How could a woman in Erzsebet's position hope to compete, when she comes with no soldiers, no servants, little more than the clothes on her back? Just as she had escaped one danger, Erzsebet finds herself amidst a new peril. How will she navigate this strange court in a strange land, where all seem set against her? And with calls for a Holy Crusade coming from Rome, how far will she have go to see her path to its end?
Preface and Recap
