"You should be grateful, my girl. You have no dowry, and I am doing
everything I can to get you settled. You are hardly any man's dream."
Alina's brother, Milos, pulled his face into a perfect copy of Aunt
Marci's sour expression, primly pursing his mouth. He had got her
querulous tone just right.
I pinched my lips together, trying not to laugh. But it was true; Aunt
Marci had already introduced me to several suitors. So far I had managed
to decline their suits politely.
Maybe Alina's aunt was right. How could she possibly hope to become a
musician, a trobairitz, as impoverished as she was and without the
status of a good marriage?
But fourteen-year-old Alina refuses to accept the oppressing life her
strict aunt wants to impose upon her. When the perfect opportunity comes
along for her to escape, she and her brother embark on a journey through
the Byzantine Empire all the way to Jerusalem.
Alina soon finds herself embroiled in the political intrigue of noble
courts as she fights to realize her dream of becoming a female
troubadour.