~ finding the right voice ~
A Shadowhunter's life is bound by duty. Constrained by honor. the word of a Shadowhunter is a solemn pledge, and no vow is more sacred than the vow that binds *parabatai*, warrior partners--sworn to fight together, die together, but to never fall in love. Emma Carstairs has learned that the love she shares with her *parabatai*, Julia Blackthorn, isn't just forbidden--it could destroy them both. She knows she should run from Julian. But how can she when the Blackthorns are threatened by enemies on all sides? Their only hope is the Black Volume of the Dead, a spell book of terrible power. Everyone wants it. Only the Blackthorns can find it. Spurred on by a dark bargain with the Seelie Queen, Emma; her best friend, Cristina; and Mark and Julian Blackthorn journey into the Courts of Faerie, where glittering revels hide bloody danger and no promise can be trusted. Meanwhile, rising tension between Shadowhunters and Downworlders has produced the Cohort, an extremist group of Shadowhunters dedicated to registering Downworlders and "unsuitable" Nephilim. They'll do anything in their power to expose Julian's secrets and take the Los Angeles Institute for their own. When Downworlders turn against the Clave, a new threat arises in the form of the Lord of Shadows--the Unseelie King, who sends his greatest warriors to slaughter those with Blackthorn blood and seize the Black Volume. As dangers close in, Julian devises a risky scheme that depends on the cooperation of an unpredictable enemy. But success may come with a price he and Emma cannot even imagine, one that will bring with it a reckoning of blood that could have repercussions for everyone and everything they hold dear. Join millions of readers around the world who have fallen under the spell of Cassandra Clare's Shadowhunters in the second volume of the Dark Artifices trilogy. This description comes from the publisher. This is the second book of the Dark Artifices trilogy, the first of which is *Lady Midnight*; this takes place within the Shadowhunter Chronicles, the first of which is *City of Bones*.