Mercedes Lackey

While enjoying the Christmas season, Nan and Sarah, along with Dr. Watson and his wife Mary, are called to investigate when missing women reappear and their experiences while gone have driven them mad.

When Ekaterina, the seventh daughter of the Sea King, uses her special ability to move around on land to serve as her father's spy, she is kidnapped, along with other princesses, and held hostage in a castle where her only hope for rescue lies within a man thought to be a fool.

In The Phoenix Endangered, the second entry in The Enduring Flame, Tiercel, a budding High Mage, and Harrier, a reluctant Knight-Mage, develop greater power-and learn of the evils of war when they see the devastation caused by the fanatical armies of the Wild Mage Bisochim. The desert tribespeople led by young Shaiara flee Bisochim's evil, seeking a legendary oasis deep in the desert-a refuge that may hold the key to stopping Bisochim and preserving...

The story of Darian, a troubled young orphan of Valdemar. Apprenticed to a venerable wizard when his hunter and trapper parents disappear into the forest never to be seen again, Darian is difficult and strong willed--much to the dismay of his kindly master. But a sudden twist of fate will change his life forever, when the ransacking of his village forces him to flee into the great mystical forest. It is here in the dark forest that he meets his destiny,...

Miriam may be the daughter of Queen Alethia of Tirendell, but she's not a princess. She's the child of Alethia and her previous husband, the King's Champion, who died fighting for the king, and she has no ambitions to rule. When her new baby sister Aurora, heir to the throne, is born, she's ecstatic. She adores the baby, who seems perfect in every way. But on the day of Aurora's christening, an uninvited Dark Fae arrives, prepared to curse her, and...

Acting as the "son" her father never had, Gwenhwyfar, when called upon to serve another purpose by the Ladies of the Well, bows to circumstances to become Arthur's queen--only to find herself facing temptation and treachery, intrigue and betrayal, but also love and redemption.

"This 17th anthology of short stories set in the beloved Valdemar high fantasy universe features tales by debut and established authors and a brand-new story from Mercedes Lackey"--