Illara's Champion

Born in Egypt of an English father and Egyptian mother, Illara of Thresford is brought to England by her father’s overlord, Baron Starling, after the death of her parents. Because of her mixed heritage, she is proclaimed a heathen and ill-treated, her world is bleak and dark—until the Baron decides to hold a Tourney, and make her the prize.

In need of a champion to escape her present existence, and hopefully once again have the love and joy she’d known in her former years, Illara has no idea that the Black Beast of Northumberland is about to change her life… in unimaginable ways.

The Black Beast of Northumberland, Pagan de Chevel was an intimidating sight, always masked and mysterious; the whispers attached to him were terrifying. He was six and half feet tall, an ebon mass of armor whose mask beneath the helm could never be removed.

Behind the intimidating sight, beyond the rumors and chilling tales, of how he achieved glory on the battlefield, and at the Tourneys, was a man both obsessed and tormented, a soul driven by vengeance, and a secret that gave him both birth, and death.

Pagan de Chevel never forgot the tales of a young maiden spoken by her father, when he served John of Thresford in the holy land—and when the chance came to claim her as prize, he stood her champion. However, vows to a woman grown, one with courage, skill, and particularly one who saw beyond the darkness and scars he hid, would test his long held quest for revenge.

For Pagan and Illara, treason, murder and a climatic event would pit them both against enemies, betrayers, and their own fears—until courage, passion and the deepest love, would become the prize worth dying for.