Cast in Shadow

## **Blurb**

Seven years ago Kaylin fled the crime-riddled streets of Nightshade, knowing that something was after her. Children were being murdered—and all had the same odd markings that mysteriously appeared on her own skin.…

Since then, she's learned to read, she's learned to fight and she's become one of the vaunted Hawks who patrol and police the City of Elantra. Alongside the winged Aerians and the immortal Barrani, she's made a place for herself, far from the mean streets of her birth.

But children are once again dying, and a dark and familiar pattern is emerging. Kaylin is ordered back into Nightshade with a partner she knows she can't trust, a Dragon lord for a companion and a device to contain her powers—powers that no other human has. Her task is simple—find the killer, stop the murders…and survive the attentions of those who claim to be her allies!

## **Plot**

Kaylin Neya has nearly failed all her knowledge-based courses, but is good enough at the practical stuff to be promoted from mascot to a full Hawk Private in the Halls of Law. She is exceptionally late even by her standards when we meet her, after staying up all night and draining her poorly-understood magical powers assisting at the Midwives' Guild. She is asked to partner with dragon Tiamaris and Wolf (special forces, not a literal wolf) Severn; seeing him she immediately draws knives and tries to kill him in the middle of the station.

The two are separated and the Hawklord Grammayre demands an explanation. When she and Severn were growing up in the lethal slums of Nightshade Fief, she took in two girls (Steffi and Jade), to whom she came home one night to find Severn murdering; Tiamaris explains that her magic used in healing them had created a portal for ancient evil to enter the world, and he had no choice. This comes up because, after returning to Nightshade where the fieflord claims her with a magical rose tattoo on her cheek, she brings child Catti back from the brink of death only for her to be kidnapped by the same evil-doers who hurt her. Apparently, rogue Barrani priests are making another attempt to bring evil back 12 years later.

When Severn shows up in the Foundling Hall to help the investigation, Kaylin again tries to kill him and is put on report. She confesses the whole story to the Hawklord Grammayre, then uses her magic to track down Catti and rescue her. The tentacled telepathic Tha'alani extract memories of the kidnappers and priests, enough to raid a building in Nightshade, where a critically injured local mother confirms children have been kidnapped and are being held. With the help of the entire Hawk force, they attack, interrupting the ritual, re-killing the reanimated Barrani priests, and defeating but not killing their leader outcaste black dragon Makuron. The magic beneath Kaylin's skin nearly kills everyone else too, but Severn puts a repressing gauntlet on her arm and defends the children rather than break the spell by killing them. It takes her a full week to be back on her feet, and at work Grammayre holds her as she melts down in his office.

## List of Characters

1. Kaylin
2. Marcus
3. Clint
4. Tanner
5. Teela
6. Tain
7. Grammayre
8. Severn
9. Tiamaris
10. Brecht
11. Nightshade
12. Holder
13. Marrin
14. Amos
15. Catti
16. Dock
17. Caitlin
18. Red
19. Callantine
20. Burlan Oaks
21. Evarrim
22. Hanson
23. Jade
24. Steffi
25. Sanabalis
26. Diarmat
27. Emmerian
28. Ybelline Rabon'alani
29. Moran
30. Makuron