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After a self-imposed exile, Stephen returns to the town of Abbotsford to find that corruption has seeped far beyond King Edward II’s court and into the very heart of his home. The local abbey is in ruins, town officials are stealing from the citizens, someone is circulating false gold around the town, and the entire country is on the brink of civil war.
 
Refusing to stand for any more injustice, Stephen partners with the local abbot to end the town’s corruption and aid the exiled forces who plan to invade the country and overthrow the king. But Stephen has another objective that’s more important than all the rest: winning the love and loyalty of his wife, Elena, who despises him. But how can he succeed when Elena’s brother is the very worst of those corrupt officials he’s sworn to bring down?
 
As theft and murder come to a head, so, too, does the imperfect love story of this guarded man with a complicated past and his headstrong wife who’s already sacrificed too much. Will Stephen bring peace back to Abbotsford and earn Elena’s love? Or will fate intervene, forcing them both to make a choice?