Magic Claims by Ilona Andrews by Ilona Andrews

Luther was still staring. I let him come to terms with it all.

“Gold?” he said finally.

“It takes enchantment well and it’s malleable with minimal tools. You don’t even have to dig for it that often. Sometimes you can find it on the ground. All those boring looking rocks lying about are uncut gems, and every gem here carries potential for off-the-charts enchantment. She wanted them because they are magically potent. Emeralds, garnets, sapphires, aquamarines… I’m guessing she went on field trips to the mountains, and she must’ve had some way to sense them because there are way too many here. We took a small one to Wilmington to be appraised. Just one of those good size ones will pay for an apartment building.”

Luther made a small, strangled noise.

“This wasn’t her treasure room,” I told him. “It was her craft closet. The source of the collars and some other things we found. We will pay for the transport of the panels. No need to worry.”

Luther closed his eyes for a second, then opened them. “You mentioned other things?”

I smiled. “So many other things. Come with me. I’ll show you.”





ALSO BY ILONA ANDREWS





Kate Daniels: Wilmington Years

MAGIC TIDES

MAGIC CLAIMS





Kate Daniels World

BLOOD HEIR





Kate Daniels Series

MAGIC BITES

MAGIC BLEEDS

MAGIC BURNS

MAGIC STRIKES

MAGIC MOURNS

MAGIC BLEEDS

MAGIC DREAMS

MAGIC SLAYS

GUNMETAL MAGIC

MAGIC GIFTS

MAGIC RISES

MAGIC BREAKS

MAGIC STEALS

MAGIC SHIFTS

MAGIC STARS

MAGIC BINDS

MAGIC TRIUMPHS





The Iron Covenant

IRON AND MAGIC

UNTITLED IRON AND MAGIC #2





Hidden Legacy Series

BURN FOR ME

WHITE HOT

WILDFIRE

DIAMOND FIRE

SAPPHIRE FLAMES

EMERALD BLAZE

RUBY FEVER





Innkeeper Chronicles Series

CLEAN SWEEP

SWEEP IN PEACE

ONE FELL SWEEP

SWEEP OF THE BLADE

SWEEP WITH ME

SWEEP OF THE HEART





Kinsmen

SILENT BLADE

SILVER SHARK

THE KINSMEN UNIVERSE (anthology with both SILENT BLADE and SILVER SHARK)

FATED BLADES





The Edge Series

ON THE EDGE

BAYOU MOON

FATE’S EDGE

STEEL’S EDGE





ACKNOWLEDGMENTS





This was supposed to be a novella. We were supposed to finish it in a couple of months. But the story ended up growing and growing, and eventually we gave up on trying to figure out how long we wanted it to be and let it be as long as took. It was so fun to write, and we hope you’ll enjoy reading it.

Many people helped us along the way. We would like to thank Nancy Yost, Natanya Wheeler, Sarah Younger, and Cheryl Pientka of NYLA for their help and expertise in bringing this manuscript to publication. We are grateful to Rossana Sasso for the editorial input, to Stefanie Chin for a thorough copyedit, and to Gina Nicholls for proofreading.

We are deeply indebted to our beta team: Michelle Badillo, Harriet Chow, Gloria, Dr. Chrissy Hall, Katherine Heasley, Jessi Halligan, Elżbieta Jaskulska, Veronika "Lyra" Kovaničová, Maura O'Toole, Jeanne L.D. Osnas, Sarah Platt, and Chiara Prato. Thank you for making our book better by sharing your insight and knowledge. We had the benefit of their expert advice on anthropology, archeology, zoology, botany, all things Irish, and even ballet. All errors of fact and science are ours alone.

This novel took some liberties with earth and biological sciences in the name of artistic license.





ABOUT THE AUTHOR





Ilona Andrews is the pseudonym for a husband-and-wife writing team, Gordon and Ilona. They currently reside in Texas with their two children and numerous dogs and cats. The couple are the #1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling authors of the Kate Daniels and Kate Daniels World novels as well as The Edge and Hidden Legacy series. They also write the Innkeeper Chronicles series, which they post as a free weekly serial.



For a complete list of their books, fun extras, and Innkeeper installments, please visit their website.