Stroke of Midnight, A

I am Meredith Gentry, P.I., solving cases in Los Angeles, far from the peril and deception of my real home - because I am also Princess Meredith, heir to the darkest throne faerie has to offer. The Unseelie Court infuses me with its power. But at what price does such magic come? How much of my human side will I have to give up, and how much of the sinister side of faerie will I have to embrace? To sit on a throne that has ruled through bloodshed and violence for centuries, I might have to become that which I dread the most.

Enemies watch my every move. My cousin Cel strives to have me killed even now from his prison cell. But not all the assassination attempts are his. Some Unseelie nobles have waited centuries for my aunt Andais, Queen of Air and Darkness, to become weak enough that she might be toppled from her throne. Enemies unforeseen move against us - enemies who would murder the least among us.

The threat will drive us to allow human police into faerie for the first time in our history. I need my allies now more than ever, and to keep my alliance with the Goblin Court, I must attend a ball in my honor. It is a frightening and erotic dance that can end only in the bed of Holly and Ivy - twin brothers, half-sidhe and half-goblin, feared warriors but empty of magic. If I can awaken their sidhe magic, then the goblins will be my allies for another two months. Pain and pleasure await me - and danger, as well, for some at that court seek only death.

Before I risk the dangers of the Goblin Court, I will embrace Sholto, the Lord of That Which Passes Between, in all his alien beauty. I will find new joys with the butterfly-winged demi-fey. My guards and I will show all of faerie that violence and sex are as popular among the sidhe as they are among the lesser fey of our court. I will go to the beds of men I do not know - and do not trust - in a bid for political and military might. Passions undreamed of await me - and my enemies gather, for the future of both courts of faerie begins to unravel.