Description

In the fading light of a May evening, a lady moves through the rose‑clad garden of Stoke Regis Manor, her golden hair catching the sun’s last fire. The setting is rendered in lush detail—murmuring moat, ancient oaks, clouds drifting like swan’s down across a sky painted in reds and purples. Her measured steps hint at both confidence and an undercurrent of unease, as she surveys a land still bruised by recent civil strife.

Among the lords and knights assembled nearby stands Raymond Warde, a man whose bloodline stretches back to the Norman Conquest and the early Crusades. Charged with the delicate task of pledging fealty to a disputed sovereign, he balances personal honor with the looming demands of King Stephen’s turbulent reign. As rumors of a new holy war begin to stir, Raymond’s choice of allegiance will set the stage for a journey where love, loyalty, and the weight of history clash beneath the banner of the Second Crusade.