Simeon Runciman’s is firework maker to the royal court of Ostermark, a difficult man with a dangerous past. His son, Casimir, has always known part of the truth about him. But when Simeon’s enemy, the sinister magician, Circastes, reappears in their lives intent of revenge, Casimir is caught up in a deadly web of murder, deceit and magic. Forced to fight for his own survival, Casimir must also confront the harsh truth of who his father is, and what he as done, as well as the real nature of the magic that he wields.

"One of you is Esther Trier′s daughter‚" said Anna quietly. "The other is a magical copy. She is flesh and blood‚ she lives‚ she thinks‚ she breathes − but when the star locket is rejoined or destroyed‚ she will simply cease to exist." Identical in appearance‚ yet raised as strangers on opposite sidesof the world‚ Estee Merton and Sally Taverner share a perilous inheritance: a broken half of a mysterious star−shaped locket‚ a magical talisman that could control the destiny of millions. Aided by a renegade secret society and a young man who loves one of them too much‚ Sally and Estee are drawn into a terrifying struggle on the murky streets of nineteenth−century Starberg. As torn loyalties threaten everyone′s safety‚ the star locket is fated to decide which twin will live and which will be lost. The problem is‚ there is no way of telling who is real and who is not. A COMPANION NOVEL TO Fireworks and Darkness