Dina L Sleiman

Lady Merry Ellison, seventeen, will go to any lengths to protect "The Ghosts of Farthingale Forest," a band of orphans from her former village who hijacked ill-gotten gold meant for the king, capturing the attention of Timothy Grey, the ninth child of a baron, who longs to perform a legendary feat and earn a title of his own.

Inspired to become a defender of the cross, Rosalind of Ipsworth joins a crusade to set captives free from Saracen prisons. As she and fellow crusader Sir Randel Penigree train young recruits, the two find themselves unexpectedly drawn to each other. Amid many dangers, they are both forced to reconsider their priorities and the very nature of their God.