So you see, my dear little goose, there's no need to plan revenge on those horrible men-at-arms as I'm sure you would like to, because the angels will do it for you. That is their law. And none can escape their terrible punishment.' Summer, 1384. Hildegard of Meaux - sleuth, spy and now an abbess of the powerful Cistercian order - has found refuge from a world of violence and blood-feud at her new grange in Yorkshire. But by taking a bonded maid into the fold, Hildegard has made a dangerous enemy, an enemy who thinks nothing of destroying her little sanctuary to further his own ends. Meanwhile her own history, and her possession of a priceless relic, threatens to drag her into the schemes of traitors to the crown who seek to overthrow King Richard II - including the ruthless Henry Bolingbroke. Can even the resourceful Hildegard unweave the tangled skein of conspiracy?