Light & Shadow

Friendship and loyalty, secrets and intrigue, prophecy and illusion…I was four hours old when I was cast out by my mother. I was cursed, she said. Kinder to let me die in the snow and the wind than let me live, only to be betrayed.I was twelve when the Duke found me and turned me into a Shadow: bodyguard, spy, and assassin.I was fourteen when he brought me to court. He wanted his niece on the throne, by any means possible. I was to be her weapon, wielded as she and the Duke saw fit.But she wants more. She's playing her own game.And the court holds its own secrets. A war centuries in the making is ready to erupt, and we are in a race against time to keep it from consuming whole empires.… If we survive.Shadowborn is the first book in Moira Katson's acclaimed Light & Shadow series. Based on the intrigue and shifting loyalties of the War of the Roses and the Tudor dynasty that followed, Light & Shadow exists in a world that never was - a world of magic and prophecy….

With Catwin's help, Miriel has captured the heart of the King, but their victory has come at a cost: the suspicion and enmity of the Duke, and the unrelenting hatred of the Court. As they recover from the attempt on their lives, the two form a fragile alliance, promising that their first loyalty is to each other, and that their one goal is to survive.But to survive, Catwin and Miriel need power, and the search for power of their own draws them ever further into the Court and inexorably closer to the throne. Enemies surround them, ruthless and vengeful, and the only way forward is a dark path that threatens to sever them from themselves.For it is not only enemies that are a danger to Light and Shadow now, but the weakness of their own hearts. As she protects them both, Catwin struggles against her love for Temar, the Duke's assassin; to capture the King's heart, Miriel must forget both her love for Wilhelm, and her passionate belief in the populist uprising. A reckoning is coming, a betrayal that has been in the making for decades, and if they are to survive, both Catwin and Miriel must be prepared to give up everythingthey hold dear.

At last, Catwin and Miriel have chosen their own path, escaping the Court and its machinations, and fleeing to the Norstrung Provinces, to aid the rebellion. As they shed the masks and deceptions of their former life, however, both must face the fact that the same dark forces they fled are at work even in the furthest reaches of Heddred. But it is not only avarice and hatred that endanger them-the prophecy made at Catwin's birth is slowly but surely coming true, and betrayal has followed her in her escape from the court. As the shadows of war and rebellion mass, Catwin must face the fact that if she wishes to be true to herself and her alliance with Miriel, it may be she who bears the cost of saving her kingdom…

From Moira Katson, the latest installment in the story of Miriel and Catwin - Light and Shadow... New to the world of Light & Shadow? Start with Shadowborn! ******* It has been two years since Miriel and Catwin sought shelter in Priteni, a land they thought to be no more than legend. With Heddred far behind them, they believe they have found a safe haven at last. But Priteni is a land of old alliances and older grudges. When an army appears on the horizon, Miriel and Catwin are thrown once more into a world of secrets and lies...