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Zusatztext "Swift action! broad conspiracies! and monumental life-and-death stakes...grand adventure." -Sharon Shinn "A wonderful read! with an intriguing setting populated by appealing and memorable characters." -Lane Robins Informationen zum Autor Alison Sinclair is the author of Legacies , Blueheart , and Cavalcade (nominated for the Arthur C. Clarke Award), as well as Darkborn and Lightborn. She has university degrees in chemistry, biochemistry, and epidemiology, and was previously a medical writer and biomedical researcher. Raised in Scotland and in Canada, she has lived in numerous cities across the US, UK, and Canada. Klappentext A new romantic fantasy of magic! manners! and espionage that is also a "fast-paced thriller" (Carol Berg). For the Darkborn! sunlight kills. For the Lightborn! darkness is fatal. Living under a centuries-old curse! the Darkborn and the Lightborn share the city of Minhorne! coexisting in an uneasy equilibrium but never interacting. When Darkborn physician Balthasar Hearne finds a pregnant fugitive on his doorstep just before sunrise! he has no choice but to take her in. Tercelle Amberley's betrothed is a powerful Darkborn nobleman! but her illicit lover came to her through the daytime. When she gives birth to twin boys! they can see! something unheard of among the Darkborn. When men come for the boys! Balthasar is saved by the intervention of his Lightborn neighbor-and healed by the hands of his wife! Telmaine. Soon he finds himself drawn deeper into political intrigue and magical attacks! while Telmaine must confront a power she can no longer keep sheathed in gloves! a power she neither wants nor can control. Leseprobe Balthasar The knock on Balthasar's door came as the bell tolled sunrise. For Imogene's Darkborn, it was the hour of criminals and suicides, the hour of violence or desperation. In this civilized city of Minhorne, the ancient law of succor was half forgotten, and many might not have opened the door to an unknown's knock at the brink of dawn. Balthasar Hearne was not one of those; he hurried to the door and pulled it open, heavy as it was. On the step stood a lone woman muffled in a heavy traveling cloak. He sonned no carriage at her back, no living movement within his range except two cats and a small indistinct fluttering of birds. This close to sunrise the street was quite deserted. "For mercy's sake, "the woman begged breathlessly, "let me in." He could already feel the sting of imminent daylight on his skin. He stepped back and she stumbled heavily over the threshold, pulling away from his steadying hand and fetching up against the little hall table. "Oh, sweet Imogene." She panted, leaning hard on it with both hands. "I thought I would never reach here in time. I thought I must surely burn." He shut and locked the door against the day. There was nothing else to do. Left outside, she would burn to ash in an instant at sunrise, as would he. That was the Darkborn's legacy of Archmage Imogene's Curse. Her heavy cloak had snagged and was dragging one of the ornaments on the table, and Bal reached out and freed it before it fell. It was one of his wife's favorites, a horse with its foal pressed to its flank. He held it cradled in his hands as the woman straightened with an effort and turned to face him. He felt her sonn sweep over him, shaping him for her perception: a plain, slender man a little below average height, decently but not fashionably dressed. Certainly not as befitted the husband of a duke's daughter, if she knew whom she faced. He returned the sonn, delicately, as one must, to respect the modesty of a lady. Her small face was puffy above the fur trimming of her cloak. Her little gloved hand reinforced the clasp. She was still breathing hard. Like most women of the aristocracy, she was unfit for walking...
