This is the new novel in the popular "Hawkenlye" series. May 1199: a party of five from Hawkenlye Abbey is summoned to the Ile d'Oleron by Queen Eleanor and have journeyed hundreds of miles for more than three weeks to reach their destination. The queen has summoned Abbess Helewise and her party to discuss the building of a chapel at the abbey, dedicated to the well-being of the soul of her dear son King Richard. Meanwhile Sir Josse d'Acquin receives secret orders of a very different kind that set him on the trail of a group of mysterious knights rumoured to be devil worshippers. As Helewise heads for home, Josse follows his quarry to Chartres, where at night in the shadows of the new cathedral he meets the last person he expects to find there: Joanna. And she has grave problems of her own...