Merry Gentry has heard the whispers from her guards. They fear her even as they protect her, and who can blame them? When a long missing chalice appears to her as if summoned directly from her dreams, she awakens the dazzling magic that has slumbered within her guards for thousands of years. What once stripped their powers is now restoring them. At the same time, her aunt, the Queen of Air and Darkness, has shifted her focus from her usual sadistic hobbies to an unwavering obsession with Merry. Despite spending each night with the Queen’s Ravens, her immortal guards, no heir has come from their decadent pleasures. And yet, Merry’s power is surging like never before. Even as the guards cherish her for this unexpected gift, there are those who loathe her for it. The Unseelie Court has suffered for so long, and some would not have it weakened further by a half-mortal queen. Her enemies grow in number every day. But they do not know what she is capable of. Nor, for that matter, does she. . . .