An Absence of Angels

If only she were a man, her father’s lands would be hers. Loire Valley, France, 1212. Adelina de Polignac is forced into a marriage of convenience to a man she detests. Her true love she cannot have – Geoffrey, her orphaned cousin, a Benedictine monk whose heart doesn’t belong with the church. When Adelina’s father is murdered, she tries to escape by joining the Children’s Crusade, but Gabriel of Lyon foils her plan. He is her father’s most merciless knight and he will stop at nothing to acquire the Polignac estate. But can a young woman, who once dreamed of being a knight, go unarmed into battle against a violent, avaricious mercenary and win? Adelina begs her Geoffrey for help before all is lost, but loyal Geoffrey, stuck fast in a nearby monastery, can do nothing. Or can he?