Strong is Sexy Heroine of the Week: Alda

Book: The Cross and the Dragon
Author: Kim Rendfeld
Heroine: Alda 

What Makes Alda Strong

Alda is strong-willed, intelligent, wise, and compassionate, but what I admire most about her is her courage. Falsely accused of adultery, she points to the tomb of a saint and swears her fidelity, adding “May Saint Melaine strike me down if my words are not true!” On the night her beloved, battle-scarred husband, Hruodland, will leave for the invasion of Hispania, Alda has a premonition of danger. Rather than lie passively, she gives him her most precious possession, a dragon amulet, for protection, even though she believes it makes her more vulnerable.

What Makes Alda Sexy

Hruodland thinks his young wife is beautiful, yet what attracts him on an emotional level is her cleverness, honesty, and fierce loyalty. He had expected the perfect wife to be meek and obedient, yet Alda is anything but that. What he loves about her is that she is untame, that she is strong, that she will give up her most precious possession to protect him.

Blurb:

Francia, 778: Alda has never forgotten Ganelon’s vow of vengeance when she married his rival, Hruodland. Yet the jilted suitor’s malice is nothing compared to Alda’s premonition of disaster for her beloved, battle-scarred husband.

Although the army invading Hispania is the largest ever and King Charles has never lost a war, Alda cannot shake her anxiety. Determined to keep Hruodland from harm, even if it exposes her to danger, Alda gives him a charmed dragon amulet.

Is its magic enough to keep Alda’s worst fears from coming true — and protect her from Ganelon?

Inspired by legend and painstakingly researched, The Cross and the Dragon is a story of tenderness, sacrifice, lies, and revenge in the early years of Charlemagne’s reign, told by a fresh, new voice in historical fiction.

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