Book #5

Start with Picking Up the Gauntlet. On his return trip from the borderlands, Lord Robin Blake sees bandits attacking a young woman in the snow. He comes to her aid and fights off the ruffians, but not before he is wounded. To make matters worse, he is thrown from his horse and breaks through the ice. From underwater, he sees an angel in a flurry of snow. It is the woman he's helped, now coming to assist him. She tells him her name is Sage and takes him to a monastery where she works as a healer. Her expertise at healing doesn't go unnoticed, but Robin also sees something else. Sage is not only heartbroken about something, but also frightened for her life. He decides she is hiding at the monastery, staying there for sanctuary. It is close to Christmas and Connor decides he'd like to take her back to the castle for the holiday to protect her while he tries to learn her secret. Sage Hillock is the town's herbalist. Since the death of her parents, she has been raising her younger siblings by herself but has become worried about their safety. She uses the garden at the monastery to do her healings, but her home is only a small, unprotected hut. A noble she's tried to heal recently has died and now someone is trying to kill her in revenge. When a lord comes to her rescue and is injured because of her, she wants nothing more than to heal him, hoping he will not die too. When he offers to take her back to the castle for Christmas, she accepts, knowing her siblings will be protected there. Sage accepts the knight's invitation, not telling him until afterwards that her siblings will be traveling with them.