Ill Met by Moonlight — Mercedes Lackey; Roberta Gellis

GOD (AND ELFAND) SAVE THE QUEEN

The FarSeers of the Selieghe Court in Elfland are uneasy when they peer into their great crystal lens. In the human world, King Henry VIII is ageing and the rule of his son will bring gray lives and a misery of dull oppression to England. Worse will come if his eldest daughter comes to the throne and summons the Inquisition to rule by torture and fire, burning out heresy . . . and every bright aspect of life. The prize at the end of the rainbow is the possibility of a red-haired queen with lion-gold eyes, brilliant with interest and curiosity, welcoming the blossoming of art, music, and literature. But now the last image is flickering, edged in a dark menace. "

Years before, Prince Vidal had tried to seize the child Elizabeth and replace her with a simulacrum who would soon die. Vidal had been wounded almost to death in the attempt--but so also had Denoriel, Elizabeth's principal protector. Denoriel is now healing--but so, unbeknownst to those of the Bright Court, is Vidal. And Vidal's determination to hurl England into a new dark age is fiercer than ever. To gain this goal, Vidal has set in motion a plan of which Denoriel and his comrades are dangerously unaware. . . .