Originally publised in mass market paperback, 12/93.

Summary

Dear Readers,

Some ten years ago, I read a medieval poem full of color and adventure and knights and mysterious ladies. It opened an unknown world to me, a place of wild dangerous forests and white castles, of mud and glorious spectacle, a time when blackbirds really were baked in pies. Against this rich and multi-hued background, I wrote a story about a powerful, devious woman desperate to reach refuge, and a knight—a true knight who never wavered once he swore his heart, a man who could not comprehend deceit.

To do justice to their world, I wove the music of their own medieval words into the dialogue. My favorite response was from a reader who wrote that, at first, she had been a bit dubious about the Middle English, but by the end of the book, she was wondering why the man on the six o'clock news didn't talk that way!

I was determined to make my characters' words clear and understandable in the text, even though readers might never have come across them before. But in this edition of For My Lady's Heart, I've added a glossary, so that you can be certain of their meanings if you have any doubt. In compiling it, I enjoyed revisiting that world and realizing again how much history and how many shades of meaning stand behind the words we have forgotten and the words we still use.

As I wrote about Ruck and Melanthe, a shadow-figure appeared in their story: Allegreto, the young assassin who served his father's cruel ambitions. By the time I reached the end, I knew that I must eventually give Allegreto his due. Many readers wrote to ask for his story. It took me a long time, but Shadowheart will finally be published in April 2004. It is dark and beautiful—like Allegreto himself—and I hope you will be as fascinated by his elusive and compelling character as I was.

In order to clarify some of the background and family relationships between the two books, I have made some very minor additions to For My Lady's Heart, but no alterations to the language or the story itself.

Yours,