Her Perilous Game (No Man is Her Master)

In 14th century Europe, a respectable woman was expected to marry at a young age, often to a man she did not love, with the remainder of her days to be spent managing a household and enduring a yearly visit to the birthing chair. For eighteen-year old Christina Kohl, that life could not be further from the one she now leads. She has become a master merchant, fending for herself in an evolving world of trade and social upheaval where things are not always as they seem, least of all Christina herself. Her coming of age saga continues in Her Perilous Game, the second novel in the series No Man is Her Master.Christina Kohl has been accepted by the German merchant community in London as one of their own, but under the guise of her dead brother, Frederick. With a shipload of English wool, she braves a stormy Channel crossing to the Flemish city of Bruges. Upon her return, she renews her acquaintance with Piers Gaveston, the favorite of King Edward II. Her subsequent reunion with her personal household is a joyful one, but she is soon summoned once again to Tower Castle, where she is surprised by an unexpected request.Unsure of how she should proceed, Christina is compelled to seek the advice of a man who is not her friend, the chief alderman of the Germans in London. She is surprised to find; however, the audience is instead with the alderman's daughter, Katharine, a young woman Christina despises. Although Katharine's advice is sound, the payment she asks in turn is beyond what Christina is prepared to grant. She leaves, having been threatened by Katharine of dire repercussions to come. King Edward and Gaveston depart for the north of England to campaign against the Scots. Soon, Christina receives a message Gaveston is in grave danger from his enemies, the Lords Ordainers. Christina feel she has no choice but to journey northward herself, racing against time to warn Gaveston of the betrayal planned against him. Will she arrive before it is too late?