Synopsis: Touched by magic - When Ruth Marlowe find a job as a librarian in Ippisiqua, New York, she hopes she will be able to put her much too exciting past behind her and settle down to an uneventful, if somewhat lonely life in a quiet riverside town. But once touched by magic, and blessed - or cursed - with the love of an elfin lord, one cannot so easily escape the spell of Elphame. And discovering a Wild Gate to Elphame in the library's basement, Ruth is certain this is her one and only chance to be reunited with her lost love, Rohannan Melior, High Lord of the House of the Silver Silences. Once through the Gate, however, Ruth realizes she's been followed by the library director, Nic Brightlaw. With the Gate closed behind them - and a unicorn seemingly waiting to guide them - the two humans have no choice but to search gthe Morning Lands for Melior. But their journey will not prove an easy one, for they have entered a realm beset by trouble as all attempts fail to consecrate the Cup of Morning Shadows, one of the Twelve Treasures necessary for the Elphen king's coronation. And then Ruth learns just who is behind the turmoil in Elphame, and she knows that, for her, there is no turning back - for in a land betrayed by humans, only another human has any hope of restoring the rightful balance of the kingdom.... (from the back cover of the DAW Books first edition)