It's 12th century England and Isabella de Montfort is one of many young women residing at St. Jude's Abbey. But appearances can be deceiving, and one would never guess that beneath those faces of youth and quiet beauty are women who've honed to perfection the skills of martial arts. It's a secret program, founded by Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, to protect England and the royal family in times of need.

But Isabella has never taken to fighting and so has been allowed to learn merely enough to protect herself. Instead, Isabella's talents are in the art of healing, of science and of the elements of chemistry. She's done much to learn the healing arts and is especially interested in trying to duplicate successful experiments of others like her. She's an unlikely candidate for the queen's service, but nonetheless has been entrusted on an errand of grave importance -- to retrieve papers meant for the queen that could now fall into the wrong hands and cause another terrible war.

Jordan le Courtenay, the abbess' nephew, is to accompany Isabella, but Jordan has an important errand of his own to fulfill -- find who's behind the killing of his longtime friend. After years of witnessing first hand the death and destruction of war, Jordan is tired and has lost his desire for battle. He wants nothing more than to return home for peace and rest and to restore his home. Yet now he has not only vowed to find his friend's killer but to help Isabella as well. As they set out together, their goals firmly in mind, each has vowed success and perhaps later to be granted a place of peace in the world. And with a growing attraction to each other and a new sense of care and understanding, maybe even a chance at love.

This is the last in the Ladies of St. Jude's Abbey series and a nice finish to the stories of a unique and compelling group of characters. This book, like the others, is character-driven, but the heroine is not as focused on martial arts as were the others. She grows in her confidence as her fighting skills are tested yet prefers to use science as her weapon of choice. The hero fights to stay on equal footing with the heroine, yet is secure enough in himself to appreciate the heroine's skills of defense that exceed his own. Although the plot could have been more compelling, the characters more than carry the reader through to a satisfying conclusion.