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From the international bestselling author of Vampire Academy, comes book two in Richelle Mead's new series for adults, the Age of X.

In the wake of Gameboard of the Gods, religious investigator Justin March and the beautiful supersoldier assigned to protect him, Mae Koskinen, have become firmly enmeshed in investigating reports of the supernatural and the return of the gods both inside and outside their country's borders. With this highly classified knowledge comes a shocking revelation: not only are the gods vying for control of humans, but the Elect – those special humans marked by the divine – are turning against each other in bloody fashion.

Justin and Mae's mission takes a new twist when they find themselves assigned to a diplomatic delegation headed by Lucian Darling, Justin's old friend and rival, into Arcadia: the Republic of United North America's dangerous neighbouring country. Here, in a society where women are commodities and religion is intertwined with the government, Justin discovers powerful forces at work even as he struggles to come to terms with his own reluctantly-acquired deity. Meanwhile, Mae – grudgingly posing as Justin's concubine – has taken on a secret mission of her own: finding the illegitimate niece her family smuggled away years ago. But with Justin and Mae resisting the resurgence of the gods in Arcadia, a reporter's fortuitous connection with someone close to Justin back home threatens to expose their mission and the divine forces the government is determined to keep secret.