Twilight's Dawn

ROC
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80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

    First published by Roc, an imprint of New American Library,
a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

    First Printing, March 2011
     
    Copyright © Anne Bishop, 2011
    All rights reserved
    REGISTERED TRADEMARK—MARCA REGISTRADA

    LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA:
Bishop, Anne.
Twilight’s dawn: a black jewels book/Anne Bishop.
p. cm.
    eISBN : 978-1-101-47593-5
    1. Witches—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3552.17594T85 2008
813’.54—dc22
    2010040929

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    PUBLISHER’S NOTE
    This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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For all the readers
who made this journey with me

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

    My thanks to Blair Boone for continuing to be my first reader, to Debra Dixon for being second reader, to Doranna Durgin for maintaining the Web site, to Nadine Fallacaro and Julie Green for answering questions about things medical, to Jennifer Jackson and Anne Sowards for their continued enthusiasm for the Black Jewels stories, to David Rapkin and John Sharian for bringing the characters to life in the audio book, and to Pat Feidner just because.

JEWELS

    WHITE
YELLOW
TIGER EYE
ROSE
SUMMER-SKY
PURPLE DUSK
OPAL*
GREEN
SAPPHIRE
RED
GRAY
EBON-GRAY
BLACK

    *Opal is the dividing line between lighter and darker Jewels because it can be either.

    When making the Offering to the Darkness, a person can descend a maximum of three ranks from his/her Birthright Jewel.

    Example: Birthright White could descend to Rose.
    Author’s Note: The “Sc” in the names Scelt and Sceltie is pronounced “Sh.”

BLOOD HIERARCHY/CASTES

    MALES
    landen— non-Blood of any race
    Blood male— a general term for all males of the Blood; also refers to any Blood male who doesn’t wear Jewels
    Warlord— a Jeweled male equal in status to a witch
    Prince— a Jeweled male equal in status to a Priestess or a Healer
    Warlord Prince— a dangerous, extremely aggressive Jeweled male; in status, slightly lower than a Queen

    FEMALES
    landen— non-Blood of any race
    Blood female— a general term for all females of the Blood; mostly refers to any Blood female who doesn’t wear Jewels
    witch— a Blood female who wears Jewels but isn’t one of the other hierarchical levels; also refers to any Jeweled female
    Healer— a witch who heals physical wounds and illnesses; equal in status to a Priestess and a Prince
    Priestess— a witch who cares for altars, Sanctuaries, and Dark Altars; witnesses handfasts