National bestselling author Carol Berg returns to the world of her
award-winning Flesh and Spirit and Breath and Bone with an all-new
tale of magic, mystery, and corruption....
How much must one pay for an hour of youthful folly? The Pureblood
Registry accused Lucian de Remeni-Masson of "unseemly involvement with
ordinaries," which meant only that he spoke with a young woman not of
his own kind, allowed her to see his face unmasked, worked a bit of
magic for her....
After that one mistake, Lucian's grandsire excised half his magic and
savage Harrowers massacred his family. Now the Registry has contracted
his art to a common coroner. His extraordinary gift for portraiture is
restricted to dead ordinaries--beggars or starvelings hauled from the
streets.
But sketching the truth of dead men's souls brings unforeseen
consequences. Sensations not his own. Truths he cannot possibly know and
dares not believe. The coroner calls him a cheat and says he is trying
to weasel out of a humiliating contract. The Registry will call him
mad--and mad sorcerers are very dangerous....