HarperCollins Publishers
Автор Lois McMaster Bujold

Описание:
Young Fawn Bluefield and soldier-sorcerer Dag Redwing Hickory have survived magical dangers with their passionate hearts strong and united. The bigotry of blood kin, however, cannot be easily overcome. Leaving behind all that they have ever known, the couple sets off to find fresh solutions to the perilous split between their peoples—but their passage will not be ventured alone. New companions join them on their road: Fawn's brother, Whit, escaping a hopeless future on the family farm; a pair of novice Lakewalker patrollers fleeing the catastrophic consequences of an honest mistake; a young flatboat captain searching for her vanished father and fiancé; a shrewd backwoods hunter; and a farmer boy unintentionally beguiled by Dag's growing magery. On an eventful journey to where great rivers join, the ill-assorted crew will be sorely tested and tempered, as they encounter a new world of hazards both human and uncanny.

Описание:
A man broken in body and spirit, Cazaril returns to the noble household he once served as page and is named secretary-tutor to the beautiful, strong-willed sister of the impetuous boy who is next in line to rule. It is an assignment Cazaril dreads, for it must ultimately lead him to the place he most fears: the royal court of Cardegoss, where the powerful enemies who once placed him in chains now occupy lofty positions. But it is more than the traitorous intrigues of villains that threaten Cazaril and the Royesse Iselle here, for a sinister curse hangs like a sword over the entire blighted House of Chalion. And only by employing the darkest, most forbidden of magics can Cazaril hope to protect his royal charge an act that will mark him as a tool of the miraculous... and trap him in a lethal maze of demonic paradox.