EVERYONE WHO WAS ANYONE IN ENGLAND KNEW ABOUT THE feud. Baron Coswold of Axholm, one of King John’s closest advisers, and Baron Percy of Werke, also called friend and confidant by the king, had spent the last ten years trying to destroy each other. The competition between the two men was fierce. Each wanted more wealth than the other, more power, more prestige, and certainly more favoritism from the king. They fought bitterly over everything, and they coveted one prize most of all: Princess Gabrielle. At the mere mention of her name they became as rabid as mad dogs. Both barons were determined to marry this prized beauty.

The king was amused by their fits of jealousy. At every opportunity, he pitted one against the other. In his mind, they were his pets who would do any trick he requested just to please him. He knew about their obsession with Baron Geoffrey’s daughter, Gabrielle, but he had no intention of giving her to either. She was far too valuable. He preferred, instead, whenever it suited his needs, to dangle the possibility that each man might still have a chance to win her hand in marriage.

Everyone who was anyone in England knew who Gabrielle was. Her beauty was legendary. She had grown up in Wellingshire not far from the king’s palace. Her life there was quiet and relatively secluded until she came of age and was presented to the court. With her protective father, Baron Geoffrey of Wellingshire, at her side, she had endured an audience with King John that lasted no more than ten minutes at the most, yet that was all it took for the king to become completely enchanted.

John was in the habit of taking what he wanted when he wanted it. His reputation for lechery was well known. It wasn’t unusual for him to seduce the willing—and the unwilling—wives and daughters of his barons, and then, the morning after, boast of his conquest. However, he didn’t touch Gabrielle, for her father was one of the most powerful and influential barons in England.

John had enough conflicts on his hands. He didn’t need another. He was being assaulted from all sides, and he believed that none of the conflicts were of his doing. His problems with Pope Innocent III had recently increased tenfold. Because John refused to accept the pope’s choice of Stephen Langton as archbishop of Canterbury, the pope had placed an interdict on England. All church services were banned except for baptisms and confessions, and since bishops and priests had fled their churches to get away from John’s wrath, finding one to perform either of those two sacraments was nearly impossible.

The interdict infuriated King John, and he had responded by confiscating all church property.

The pope’s reaction was severe. He excommunicated John, thereby undermining his ability to rule his country. Not only did the excommunication damn John’s already black soul to the eternal fires of Hell, but it also absolved his subjects from their oaths of allegiance. In effect, the barons no longer had to be loyal.

Through reliable sources John knew that the king of France had his eye on the English throne and was being urged by some of the traitorous barons to prepare an invasion. While King John believed he had the men and the resources to meet this threat, it was still an expensive undertaking and one that would require his full attention.

There were minor problems plaguing him as well. The out-bursts in Wales and in Scotland were becoming more and more organized. King William of Scotland wasn’t a problem. He had already pledged his fealty to John. Nay, it was the Highlanders who were out for blood. Though King William believed he had them under his control, the chieftains didn’t much care about answering to anyone but their own clansmen. The farther north one traveled, the more violent and ruthless the clans became. There were so many feuds going on it was impossible to keep track of them all.

There was only one laird in the northern Highlands who wasn’t a threat to the others and who actually garnered a bit of respect: Laird Alan Monroe. He was an older man, soft-spoken, with an easy disposition, traits that were unheard of in a Highland chieftain. He was content with his life and didn’t have any designs to increase his holdings. Perhaps that was why he was somewhat liked.

In a surprising attempt to appease some of his more influential barons, and taking to heart a suggestion from Scotland’s King William, King John ordered a marriage between Lady Gabrielle and Laird Monroe. Though he had no need to, he sweetened her dowry with a large piece of land in the Highlands called Finney’s Flat, which he had acquired years ago. Laird Monroe’s home was at the southeast corner of this coveted property.

John’s worries about a gathering army from the Highlands with many of the border lairds wishing to join in, all bent on attacking England, would be put to rest for the time being, and King William would no longer have to worry about a possible insurrection. Already restless and sympathetic to their northern neighbors, there was a fear that some of the lowlanders would add to the rebellion.

When the proposition to marry Gabrielle was put to Laird Monroe, he eagerly agreed. He also believed that with John’s royal edict the fight among the lairds for control of Finney’s Flat would end, and there would be peace in the area.

Only two would raise their voices against the marriage, Percy and Coswold, but John would ignore the pathetic pleas and protests by the two barons.

Gabrielle’s father, Baron Geoffrey, was also in favor of the marriage. As much as he would have liked for his daughter to marry a proper English baron and live in England where he would occasionally see her, and his future grandchildren as well, he knew that Gabrielle wouldn’t be safe as long as John was king. Baron Geoffrey had seen the lust in the king’s eyes as he watched Gabrielle. He’d acted very much like a spider patiently waiting to ensnare and devour his prey. And from what Geoffrey had heard from his distant relatives in Scotland, the Buchanans, Gabrielle’s intended was a good man who would treat her kindly. This was high praise indeed for Laird Monroe, as the Buchanans didn’t much like anyone outside of their own clan. Baron Geoffrey and Laird Buchanan were related by marriage, but the laird could barely tolerate Gabrielle’s father, though ironically, Laird Buchanan, who hated all things English, had married an English lady.

With King John’s blessing and Baron Geoffrey’s approval, the wedding was scheduled. The only person who didn’t have a say in the matter and the last one to hear about the upcoming ceremony was Princess Gabrielle.