Passion Play — Beth Bernobich

Ilse Zhalina is the daughter of one of Melnek's more prominent merchants. She has lived most of her life surrounded by the trappings of wealth and privilege. Many would consider hers a happy lot; but there are dark secrets, especially in the best of families. use has learned that the way for a young woman of her beauty and social station to survive is to be passive and silent.

When use finally meets the older man she is to marry, she realizes that he is far crueler and more deadly than her father could ever be. use chooses to run. This choice will change her life forever.

And it will lead her to Raul Kosenmark, master of one of the land's most notorious pleasure houses . . . who is, as Ilse learns, a puppet master of a different sort altogether., Ilse discovers a world where every pleasure has a price and where there are levels of magic and intrigue she once thought unimaginable. She also finds the other half of her heart.

Lush fantasy. Wild magic. Intrigue, seduction, and treachery, with a kingdom at stake, Passion Play is the journey of a woman who must master her passions in order to win all that she desires.