Seven Black Diamonds

Melissa Marr returns to faery in a dramatic story of the precarious space between two worlds-and the people who must thrive there. The combination of ethereal fae powers, tumultuous romance, and a bloodthirsty faery queen will have longtime fans and new readers alike at the edge of their seats. Lilywhite Abernathy is a criminal-she's half human, half fae, and since the time before she was born her very blood has been illegal. A war has been raging between humans and faeries, and the Queen of Blood and Rage, ruler of the fae courts, wants to avenge the tragic death of her heir due to the actions of reckless humans. Lily's father has always shielded her from the truth, but when she's sent to the prestigious St. Columba's school, she's delivered straight into the arms of a fae Sleeper cell-the Black Diamonds. The Diamonds are planted in the human world as the sons and daughters of the most influential families, and tasked with destroying it from within. Against her will, Lilywhite's been chosen to join them . . . and even the romantic attention of the fae rock singer Creed Morrison isn't enough to keep Lily from wanting to run back to the familiar world she knows.

In this gripping follow-up to Melissa Marr's lush Seven Black Diamonds, Lily and her friends are forced to reckon with the truth of their own lineage and to protect one of their own, no matter what-or who-comes between them. Now that Lilywhite Abernathy is the heir to the Hidden Lands, everything is about to change. The Queen of Blood and Rage wants Lily to help broker peace with the human world, but Lily knows that harmony won't come easily. After decades of waging war on the humans, who cost the queen her firstborn daughter, the fae are struggling to accept Lily, a half-human monarch. And the humans, while no match against faery affinities, will hardly agree to the queen's détente without resistance. Lily wants to be a fair ruler but fears having to abandon the life she's known. Now that she and Creed are more than just fellow Black Diamonds-operatives for the queen-her priorities have shifted. But her worries about assuming the throne are derailed when it becomes clear that someone-or some fae-is masterminding violent attacks to discourage peace. Who can end the war between humans and fae?