Rowan wanted to be scholar, she had high dreams and the idea of being a bride just wasn’t in her sights. She wanted to be like her father and was already transcribing and helping out her father whenever he needed her. With her father support, she just needs the opportunity. She has the determination and spunk to succeed, as I read further in the novel, I realize that she really likes to speak her mind. I really wonder how she would do as a wife, if she were to get married in this novel. She would need to find someone who likes her personality and doesn’t want someone to wait on them or be the silent type. As a strange group of horsemen ride through their village headed up the hill, Rowan’s plan of being a scholar gets mixed into the new concerns that come along with this new development. When a search party discovers the bodies of the riders up on the hill, the story becomes captivating and has nonstop action. These hideous deaths bring the once quiet village alive and they want the killer brought to justice. Who could cause such horrible and revolting murders? Could it be a beast or it is a man? The Duke arrives to the village and tries to run an investigation into the horsemen deaths as more murders are occurring. The deaths are become more shocking and aggressive while the villagers feel threatened as they are occurring closer to home. It’s like a fairy tale with its cast of characters as the story weaves its way around the village, through the forest, up over campsite and into your imagination.