Book #3
Book #1 Highland Born, Book #2 Highland Destroyer. Scotland is awash with legends, but there is no greater legend than the warrior nuns of St. Margaret's of Loch Doom. Founded by an order of persecuted nuns, they learned to face persecution with rage. They learned to fight those who condemned them and, two hundred years later, all of Scotland knows about the Na BanTeamplairean. The Templar Nuns are also protectors of women and children, of those who cannot help themselves, giving the nuns a paradoxical existence. They are good to the poor and the needy, but they fight like men. But one thing is for certain - males who cross their paths don't often survive. Estevan dun Tarh is well aware of these fighting nuns as he travels from one of his brother's home back to the highlands. He's aware of them because in order to get to the gambling house known as The Butchery in a nearby town, he must pass through lands belonging to St. Margaret's. He ends up going well out of his way, traveling along a lonely beach, until he comes across a woman in distress. Given that the order of St. Margaret's helps women and children, he has little choice but to deliver the injured woman to their doorstep. Anaxandra is part of the Templar Nuns. An orphan, she has lived with them since birth. It is Anaxandra, or Ana as she is sometimes called, who nearly kills Estevan, but soon enough, his mission becomes clear. But what isn't clear is the identity of the mysterious woman, who speaks in a different tongue. She continues to draw images of serpents in the dirt, trying to communicate, but by the time Estevan and Annaxandra realize what she is saying, danger has already arrived.
