The King's Mercy: A Novel

Captured rebel Scotsman Alex MacKinnon barely escapes death when the king grants him mercy to the colony of North Carolina-he's indentured to Englishman Edmund Carey as a blacksmith.

Against his will, Alex is drawn into the struggles of Carey's slaves and those of his stepdaughter, Joanna Carey. A mistress with a servant's heart, Joanna is expected to wed her father's overseer, Phineas Reeves, but finds herself drawn instead to the new blacksmith. When blame falls unfairly upon Alex he escapes to the mountains where he encounters Reverend Pauling,preacher and friend of the Careys, now a prisoner of the Cherokees. Haunted by his abandoning of Joanna, Alex tries to settle into life with the Cherokees, until yet another attempt to forge his freedom and he's faced with the choice that's long haunted him: continue down his rebellious path or embrace the faith. But the price of such mercy is total surrender, and perhaps Alex's very life.