Author’s Note
It’s been a long time since I’ve had so much fun writing a story.
I came up with the Unholy Trinity when I write the novel Lord of Winter in 2015. Maxton, Kress, and Achilles were three loners who essentially liked to work as a team and who hated the de Lohr brothers, including Marcus Burton, so Lord of Winter was fun to write in that sense – pious, righteous Christopher and his antithesis, Maxton of Loxbeare. They were exactly enemies, but they didn’t approve of each other, and Maxton felt as if Christopher was a goody-goody. No other way to put that. Maxton did hard work, underhanded and dirty work, while Christopher knew the right people, made the right moves, and received all the glory.
In this novel, we’re at least ten years after Lord of Winter, when everyone has gone on the Crusades with Richard the Lionheart, although the path home after the Crusade ended has been different for all of them. Maxton and his companions didn’t come home directly, but rather spent time (how can I say this…?) goofing off, being mercenaries and killers, whoring, and being basically directionless.
It got them into trouble.
There are quite a few secondary characters in this novel, so you may have to read passages over twice two pick up on all of the nuances. Not only do the de Lohr brothers make a brief appearance, but so does a very young Sean de Lara just as he assumes his spying against King John (you’ll read his full story in Lord of the Shadows), and we also briefly meet Dashiell du Reims and Bric MacRohan – again – both when they were very young. Their stories happen a good fifteen or more years after this novel, so think of them as young, handsome, and hungry for glory.
Another prominent secondary character is William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke. William has made appearance in a few of my novels, including The Whispering Night, and he has often been described as England’s Greatest Knight. Considering I’m writing about some of England’s greatest (fictional) knights, I put them in good company by working with, and serving, the man who was referred to as The Marshal.
One of the fun things about this book was researching Medieval poisons. There are many plants that were known in Medieval times for their deadly quality, a few that are mentioned in this book. One of those is called Dwale – what we now know as Belladonna, or Deadly Nightshade. Historically speaking, it makes an interesting read to see how the poison was used. Deadly Nightshade has been around for thousands of years and was even used by the Greeks who wanted to do away with their enemies. Beware of Greeks bearing gifts (or inviting you to their feasts!).
Another fun bit of research I did was about Medieval banking – and yes, there was such a thing, really emerging strongly in the 12th century. They had ‘deposit bankers’ (which were just what they sounded like), and ‘merchant bankers’, etc. Italy, specifically Genoa, was the center of the early banking world around this time. Makes for some fascinating reading.
There’s quite a bit that goes on in this book – there are some very bottom-of-the-barrel moments. There is angst and real fear in some parts. But there is also a lot of soul-searching and growth on the part of our hero, as well as our heroine, so I believe this story is mostly about hope and redemption. Can a man change his stars? Can he right the wrongs of the past? And can he find within himself compassion and understanding that he always believed he lacked? All valid questions, and works them out for himself with a little help from our heroine.
A short pronunciation guide and things that are real/fictional:
Blitha – Pronounced with a short ‘I’ sound, as in bliss. (Blitha is not actually a saint; this is a fictious figure)
Achilles – uh-KILL-eez
Ceri – Like Sarah, only with an “ee” on the end – like Sar-EE
Bishop of Essex – fictitious
William Marshal – Real. Literally, the greatest (real) knight England has ever seen.
Farringdon House – Fictitious, though there is a very large Medieval district called Farringdon, basically where Trafalgar Square is in present day.
Bishopsgate (part of the London Medieval wall system): Real.
Landmarks outside of the wall at Bishopsgate: Except for St. Blitha Abbey, real.
I don’t normally include drawings or charts, things I use when I work on my stories, but in this case, I am. I’m a very visual thinker, so I often draw floor plans and such when I write to help me figure things out (like chambers and character movement), so I’m including the floor plan of St. Blitha (drawn by our heroine towards the end of the tale), and also of Farringdon House’s lower level. Hopefully it gives you a good visual like it did me, but I’ll make the disclaimer here that I’m not an artist. Still, I thought it would be fun for the reader to see my original drawings.
Love,