Table of Contents
ALSO BY KRISTEN BRITAIN:
Green Rider
First Rider’s Call
The High King’s Tomb
Blackveil
Copyright © 2011 by Kristen Britain.
All Rights Reserved.
DAW Book Collectors No. 1535.
DAW Books are distributed by Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious.
Any resemblance to persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book via the Internet or any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal, and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
First printing, February 2011
DAW TRADEMARK REGISTERED U.S. PAT. AND TM. OFF. AND FOREIGN COUNTRIES —MARCA REGISTRADA HECHO EN U.S.A.
S.A.
eISBN : 978-1-101-47556-0
http://us.penguingroup.com
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My thanks for the support, feedback, and many memorable Wednesday evenings at Darthia Farm goes to the Peninsulans: Annaliese (of Greywood) Jakimides, Elizabeth Noyes, Melinda Rice (OSSC), and Cynthia Thayer.
As always, thanks to team DAW for all they do to publish terrific books, especially my editor, Betsy Wollheim.
Thank you also to my agents Anna Ghosh and Danny Baror for helping to get my books out into the world.
My thanks to Ruth Stuart and Jill Shultz for providing comments and/or suggestions on certain aspects of the story. Thank you to Leila Saad for the use of her Italian carnival mask!
Thank you to Roger Czerneda for designing the all-new
www.kristenbritain.com
site and entertaining me with assorted apple flingings. And of course to his wonderful significant other, Julie, for her continuing encouragement and peach muffins.
I am always grateful for the existence of Acadia National Park for providing so much inspiration and mental and physical retreat over the years. Likewise for the music of Enya, Moya Brennan, Tingstad & Rumbel, and others that is often serene backdrop to my writing.
Finally, I always mention my four-legged buddies here because they mean so much to me and are generally great writer companions. Sadly, my last feline muse, Percy, a.k.a. Silly Orange Boy, passed away during the writing of this book, which is in part dedicated to him. He will never be forgotten.
As for Gryphon? Terriers to the fore! Want cookies!
For my sister, Sheri Flanigan.
Blackveil/Argenthyne