The Dark Knight

Elliott returns to the Chiavari family depicted in 1996’s Betrothed with characters who will feel familiar even to new readers. In his last mission for King Edward, assassin Dante Chiavari is instructed that whether via “marriage or murder, mistress or nun,” the impending union of Avalene de Forshay, the last descendant of Welsh royalty, to a rebellious lord must be stopped. Dante assumes the identity of a knight who served Avalene’s father and arrives at Avalene’s foster family to be “dumbstruck” by her “perfection,” though her family treats her as a disappointing failure. Though Dante is sure Avalene “would never knowingly touch anything so foul or corrupt” as him, Avalene asks him to abduct her and save her from her aunt’s marriage schemes. After Avalene’s betrothed briefly rescues her from Dante and she learns the truth about the knight in disguise, the romantic tension is resolved all too quickly, leaving the rest of this rather conventional tale to hinge on whether political intrigue will bring the lovebirds together or keep them apart. (July)