THE POWER OF LARAN It has been fifteen years since Marguerida Alton returned to Darkover, discovered the terrifying powers of her special laran, and fell in love with Mikhail Lanart-Hastur, heir designate to the regency of Darkover. With the proper instruction Marguerida has, over time, learned to control her telepathic Gift, and can even work with her unique shadow matrix.
Now Marguerida's life is more settled -- though no less hectic. As the seconds-in-command to the aging Regent, Regis Hastur, life in Comyn Castle for Marguerida and Mikhail is far from serene.
But the current tensions on Darkover have more to do with the Terran Federation than with anything internal to Darkover. For nearly ten years, Lyle Belfontaine, the corrupt and ambitious Station Chief at Federation Headquarters in Thendara, has been pressuring Comyn Council to relinquish Darkover's Protected status and join the Federation as a full member planet. Yet this is something Comyn Council will never agree to do, for it would mean the death of their culture and the rape of their planetary resources.
But when a military coup rocks the Federation, cutting off all communication with local envoys, Belfontaine sees an opportunity to wrest by force what he has been unable to gain through diplomacy and plans a violent takeover on Darkover.
Can Mikhail and Marguerida face the might of Terran weapons with only their combined telepathic laran powers?
