Fate's Edge

Times bestselling author of River Marked
     
    “Andrews’s edgy series stands apart from similar fantasies . . . owing to its complex world-building and skilled characterizations.”
    — Library Journal
     
    “Fans of urban fantasy will delight in Ilona Andrews’s alternate-universe Atlanta.”
     
    — Fresh Fiction
     
    “A unique world laced with a thick plot full of strife, betrayal, and mystery.”
     
    — Romance Junkies

Ace Books by Ilona Andrews
    The Kate Daniels Novels
     
    MAGIC BITES
MAGIC BURNS
MAGIC STRIKES
MAGIC BLEEDS
MAGIC SLAYS
     
    The Edge Novels
     
    ON THE EDGE
BAYOU MOON
FATE’S EDGE

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    Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
     
    This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the authors’ imaginations or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
     
    FATE’S EDGE
     
    An Ace Book / published by arrangement with Ilona Andrews, Inc.
     
    PRINTING HISTORY
Ace mass-market edition / December 2011
     
Copyright © 2011 by Andrew Gordon and Ilona Gordon.
     
    All rights reserved.
    No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the authors’ rights. Purchase only authorized editions. For information, address: The Berkley Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.
     
    ISBN : 978-1-101-54596-6
     
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To Anastasia and Helen

Acknowledgments
    Fate’s Edge was a fun book to write, but even the fun books take a lot of work. We’re grateful to Anne Sowards for continuing to edit us and to Nancy Yost, our agent, for continuing to represent us despite our best efforts to drive them both to an insane asylum.
    We’d like to thank the following people for making the book a reality: production editor Michelle Kasper and assistant production editor Andromeda Macri for bringing it all together, editorial assistant Kat Sherbo for heroically dealing with our ornery e-mails and keeping us on schedule, artist Victoria Vebell and cover designer Annette Fiore DeFex for creating a gorgeous cover, interior designer Kristin del Rosario for making the book look beautiful between the covers, copy editors Sara and Bob Schwager for making sure the narrative was consistent, and publicists Rosanne Romanello and Brady McReynolds for tirelessly promoting the book.
    Special thanks go out to Deric Gant for his knowledge of scripture and charismatic preachers. We’d also like to thank Jill Myles, Meljean Brook, and Jeaniene Frost for many hours of e-mail and phone therapy. We’d also like to thank Jessie Mihalik for helping us move to Texas and find this awesome house, where most of the book was written. We’d like to thank each other for being very patient and avoiding divorce despite the AC breaking three times in triple-digit summer heat.
    Finally, we’d like to thank our readers for following our stories.

PROLOGUE
    IF she had only one word to describe