First Time in Paperback - premium edition
SummaryLeona Hewitt has secretly made her way into Lord Delbridge's
private museum to retrieve a relic stolen from her family.
But someone else is in the dimly lit gallery on the same
errand: a tall, black cloaked man whose very voice is enough
to cause her to fall into a trance.
Thaddeus Ware, a mesmerist with psychic gifts, is accustomed
to fearful reactions from others—women, in particular.
After all, a man who can control the minds of others could
rob a lady of her virtue—completely unbeknownst to her.
But Leona shows no trace of hysteria in his presence. A
gifted crystal worker, she exerts a rather hypnotic power
over the hypnotist himself. And she is determined to keep
the coveted crystal they manage to recover by giving him the
slip at a run-down London inn.
Thaddeus, on assignment for the Arcane Society, knows the
menace Leona is courting by absconding with the crystal. A
source of remarkable energy, it holds the potential for
great destruction. Lord Delbridge has already killed to
acquire the crystal, his key to membership in the elite,
shadowy group known as the Third Circle. And, with the help
of a ruthless hunter of preternatural skill—dubbed the
Midnight Monster by the press—Delbridge intends to find
Leona. With the stolen crystal in their possession, the
danger is only beginning.
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