In this sequel to The Courtship of Julian St. Albans, Julian – once a member of the pampered elite and Courted by the cream of society – is now an Apprentice and the still-pampered boyfriend of consulting mage Alex Benedict. He arrives one bright August morning at the plant nursery where he's working through his apprenticeship, only to find a dead body among the lucky clover. This is the first in a series of strange murders that keep getting closer and closer to home, to Julian's wonderful new life and all the magic threading through it, including the new magic that's blossomed inside him.Alex Benedict is left working against an unknown threat to solve the murders and keep his lover alive, and it seems like all of his magic won't be enough. With opposition from inside the Agency and out, and only Alex's wards for refuge, Julian has to learn to use his own powers fast enough to keep from becoming another casualty. Amy Crook has made her living for the past 15+ years with art and design. She lives in San Leandro, CA, with two cats, a roommate, and a pair of custom-made tentacle pillows. She's a dilettante geek and non-practicing goth. That means that she loves in-jokes and things with skulls on them, she tends not to go too deep into most geeky pursuits, and she rarely dresses up as a Goth (though she does use her purple tentacle parasol to ward off the sun). Strangers stop her on the street to tell her that her hair is long. She loves tea and gin, and she hates it when the trees try to have sex in her sinuses. She's a real geek girl, for certain values of "real," "geek," and "girl."