Gold and Gossamer

Dante, the Mage King of Avonbend, rules a throne that sits on the border between the human world and the fairy world. He swears to guard the Talamherra he knows against the Talamherra he does not. Human legends paint the Fairy Queen beyond his borderlands as a threat, but he doubts them.

A mysterious blight is hitting his people, and Dante asks the Fairy Queen for a favor. She wonders why he has not gone to his own allies in a time this uncertain. She also likes to know what lies in the dark, and she is glad to draw an ambitious king into her territory.

She refuses to help, and a rivalry grows between them. Dante's need to win against her only feeds it. The queen then offers him another path, one that leads toward a truth he is not ready to face.

In Fairyland, Dante meets a web of secrets, oaths and intrigue, all within the queen's reach, and soon he is within it too. Two rulers circle each other, and one of them will eventually have to yield. Their fates are bound more closely than Dante expects.