The black swan - Mercedes Lackey

The story of Swan Lake has enchanted generations: a monumental tale of loyalty and betrayal, of magic used for good and evil, of love both carnal and pure, and of the incredible duality of human nature.

Baron Eric von Rothbart is a powerful sorcerer who devotes his life to capturing women who inspire his wrath and transforming them into swans, beautiful but powerless, who can regain their human shapes only by the light of the transitory moon. Over his flock he sets his daughter Odile, gifted in magic, but still spurned by her father...

Odette, noblest of the Baron's enchanted flock, wrests from their captor a pact which could lead to freedom for all the swan maidens—but von Rothbart is determined to use all his magical cunning to avoid honouring his promise to the princess.

Prince Siegfried comes upon the swan maidens as day dissolves into dusk—and the game takes a new, more sinister twist; for Siegfried is a selfish hedonist and dissolute womaniser.

And then the woman he has wronged teaches him a lesson that will change the course of his life for ever...

Mercedes Lackey uses her own brilliant storytelling to breathe vibrant new life into an old favourite.