In the land of Astra, there are two kinds of magic: good, healing magic and dark, toxic magic. Master Brok, leader of a band of teenage magicians-in-trainings, has just rescued his student Jon from the clutches of an evil queen, but Jon has not come away unscathed. The Queen of Siswae taught Jon dark magic, a magic more powerful and more dangerous than any Jon has known. Brok must convince Jon to give up the dark ways, or the boy will be lost. So he digs up the old, rare story of a lord, a dark magician, and the man who dared stand up to the Mad Lord Lucian...

In the land of Astra, there are two kinds of magic: good, healing magic and dark, toxic magic. Master Brok, leader of a band of teenage magicians-in-trainings, has just rescued his student Jon from the clutches of an evil queen, but Jon has not come away unscathed. The Queen of Siswae taught Jon dark magic, a magic more powerful and more dangerous than any Jon has known. Brok must convince Jon to give up the dark ways, or the boy will be lost. So he digs up the old, rare story of a lord, a dark magician, and the man who dared stand up to the Mad Lord Lucian...

'Sensational. The most minutely researched and brilliantly told account ever' MAIL ON SUNDAY. Laura Thompson re-examines the truths behind one of post-war Britain's most notorious murders: the bludgeoning to death of nanny Sandra Rivett in a Belgravia basement on 7 November 1974. Lord Lucan, found guilty of the murder, was only granted a death certificate in 2016. His wife Veronica – last surviving participant in this dark episode – died in September 2017. In this revised edition, Laura Thompson sheds new light on the volatile mental state of Veronica Lucan, and on the theories surrounding the murder, to which she adds a new, extraordinary and shocking possibility.

Ruthless Lord Soren strives to reunite warring feudal mini-states into a mighty kingdom. His most powerful weapon is the Bezrielite necromancer, William, the mightiest sorcerer in modern times. William has rejected Bezriel’s sacred mystical traditions sacred mystical traditions, instead using sorcery for dominion over men and nature. Opposing Soren and William is the ragtag liberation army, Free Bezriel, and its powerful young sorcerers. Ariadne. Despite having been taught to use her powers only for peace and healing when she sees the corrupting influence of Soren and William on Bezriel, she puts aside her pacifist principles to join the guerilla struggle. Needless slaughter by Soren’s troops of many of her friends in the rebel army leads Ariadne to a shocking act of revenge. While a remorseful Ariadne ponders whether killing, even for a good cause, can ever be justified, and considers quitting Free Bezriel, Soren and William intensify their efforts to destroy the guerillas.