The Champion

Fleeing a scandalous chapter of clerical corruption at an English monastery, young Alexander de Montroi arrives in Normandy in the spring of 1193, desperate to become one of the great knights who live by their jousting swords. For those who show exceptional talent, there are fortunes and hearts to be won, and Alexander soon proves himself adept at both.

Granddaughter of the vengeful Thomas FitzParnell, Lord of Stafford and patron of Alexander's hated priory, Monday de Cerizay is smitten with the new hero - until she finds herself another of his passionate conquests. Pregnant, confused and betrayed, determined to make a life beyond the tawdry squalor of the tourney circuits, she becomes mistress to John, Count of Mortain, heir to the Coeur de Lion's vast Angevin Empire, but discovers that having so powerful a lover carries a heavy price. Alexander, devastated and destitute must rebuild his career from nothing.

When Alexander and Monday meet once more, it is as strangers. From the mud-soaked fields of France to the finery of the royal court, they rediscover their love for each other amid the wrath of a king, the bitter ambitions of Thomas FitzParnell, and the fury of an old foe from Alexander's jousting days...