Élise wants nothing more from life than to marry the man she has chosen and be the object of devotion of many lovers. However, her father has chosen a husband for her, the young prince of Armenia, whom she has reason to despise. She gladly shares the journey to Armenia with Gwenaella who is going that way, all the while scheming for some way to break her engagement.
BEFORE THE STORY BEGINS Élise has spent many a joyful day with her Aunt Marie in Poitiers, learning music and the arts. She loves to listen to her Aunt Marie tell her of the old days in the Court of Queen Aliénor. She dreams that one day she will have lovers of her own, composing songs to her beauty and willing to undergo through trials and dangers to show her how much she was loved. Élise is an accomplished musician and poet, and well versed in religious drama and the romantic poetry of the south of France