New Corinth city councilwoman Lizzie Marsden made her first appearance in Trancehack, in a very brief scene where she met that book's hero Nate Perez. Over a year later, the city council is coming under pressure to pass a law that would confine the Magic Born strictly to the zone, known as FreakTown. Lizzie doesn't want to vote for this law and she uses economics as her excuse. Effectively quarantining a significant portion of the population will do damage to the city's economy, she argues.
But that's not the whole truth. As the book's hero, Vadim Bazarov, discovers, Lizzie has a secret that could destroy her life. Thanks to false documentation her wealthy family bought to protect her, she's lived her life as a Normal - but she's really Magic Born. After a lifetime of hiding the truth from the public and running from it in private, Lizzie is now forced to confront it.
Here's a brief excerpt:
Lizzie sat completely still for several minutes. The pressure built slowly, steadily, a heavy fullness in her head and her chest that threatened to spread if she didn’t do something about it. The room was empty, the door closed. Keeping one hand wrapped around the tea mug as if it could provide an anchor, she raised her other hand over the tablet. The skin facing the device immediately warmed. Electricity crackled between her fingertips and the screen, thin blue lines of power that glowed like lightning over the image of rain.
Quickly, she balled her hand into a fist and held it to her chest, nails pressing hard into her palm. Heart pounding, breath coming in short gasps, she waited for the pressure to ease. Finally it did, replaced with layer upon layer of icy control. The vibration of magic lingered underneath. It always did, no matter how hard she worked to suppress it.
In 2066, the Magic Born are segregated in urban reservations. The laws do not protect them, or their allies.
Councilwoman Elizabeth Marsden is a powerful player in New Corinth politics, but a closely guarded secret could destroy her life—she’s a hidden Magic Born. Her family has gone to great lengths to erase all her magic-related records, until a trancehacking outlaw discovers the last remaining one…
Vadim Bazarov smuggles Magic Borns through the underground railroad and threatens to reveal Elizabeth’s secret unless she helps him access blank ID cards. Elizabeth wants to hate him for having a stranglehold on her life, but can’t help being attracted to someone so sure of who and what he is.
Vadim initially sees her as a political ice queen, but is intrigued by her suppressed magical abilities. He trains Elizabeth to use her magic, and before long finds himself falling for her. But their newfound love may be shortlived; an anti-magic ordinance forces one of them to make a choice that will change both their lives for good.
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