Summerbird's Quest (An Act of Entreaty, #2) / An Act of Entreaty (ePub)

Summerbird's magic blooms within her in Emythor, but why does she alone recognize the intensity and unpredictability of her spellcraft? Should her spell-weaving be this enchanting, dancing around and through her, enabling her to cast magic at her merest thought, yet so affected by her emotions that it can be dangerous? Magic clings to her, evolving and changing her in ways that enable her to craft increasingly unusual and formidable magic. Magic, not even her powerful sorcerer-mate, the Otter, can explain. Only after mystic motes awaken within her does Summerbird grasp the truth—no one else has these tiny allies. Her spellcraft is bizarrely different.

As Summerbird and the Otter plan a life away from Emythor's palace, the entity, Treaty, reveals a threat to Emythor and its people. Demon-corrupted Borrea, once a forceful being not unlike Treaty, seeks the pure wellspring of Emythor's magic and will raze everything preventing him from finding it. Summerbird objects when Treaty and the Otter forbid her to use her magic, fearing it will draw Borrea to her and Emythor.

Ignoring her protests that she can help them, the Otter leaves on a mission, while Treaty sends Summerbird and her friends on a quest. As they travel through Emythor's treacherous wildings, constantly facing harrowing events and terrifying creatures, Summerbird wonders—are these deadly incidents a horrific test, or is someone closer to home responsible for their narrow escapes?

When enthralled warriors attack the travelers, Summerbird must abandon everything she believes in and use her altered magic to ensure the questers survive. She recklessly decimates their assailants; only later is she horrified to realize that not only is she skilled at carnage... she enjoys it.

With the quest behind them, Summerbird is stunned when Treaty tells her she alone can defeat Borrea, especially when her overprotective lifemate concedes. But he is adamant—she will not go alone. With guardians and the Otter at her side and her emotions high, Summerbird is ready to battle—

Until Borrea, who seems to know an abandoned child's pain still lives within Summerbird, makes it personal, sending her emotion-driven magic into a rage. When the demon assumes a familiar countenance, her fortitude wanes. The demon has shaped himself as the one person she may be unable to turn her lethal magic against, and when that visage touches her mind...will the Otter and her motes be enough to save her?