King of Jerusalem and Defender of the Holy Sepulcher, Baldwin IV walks the sword s edge between the intriguing barons of his own Court and the jihad of Islam. Between the two, however, a sinister presence lurks a heretical society called the Order of Sion that will stop at nothing to see its own dark designs come to fruition. Baldwin is young, innocent, and a military strategist of no small measure. And, he is a leper. In the midst of mounting political tensions and war, a mysterious woman unexpectedly befriends the lonely sick king a woman who claims she is Mary Magdalen.

March, 1863. The War Between the States has raged for nearly two years. Five months after his death, the body of Sarah's estranged husband, a Union soldier, finally comes home for burial in Philadelphia. Taylor's burial, though, rather than putting her unresolved grief to rest, begins a journey that will not just test her faith, but will plumb the depths of her devotion to her dead husband. When anger and sorrow push her to the edge of despair, Sarah turns to the few letters sent to her by Taylor from the frontlines in a desperate need to understand the guilt she feels over his death. But, as...