The Cup, Sword, and Stone Series

On the night of the solstice, watching for the first star with an Aboriginal boy new to the area, a giant shadow-snake comes after them. Together, the three seek to unravel the mystery of the creatures and their connection to Dara's father's work. Hallaer, queen of the elves, is furious but helpless. She cannot challenge the alchemist or slow his destruction of her land. Through a dream, she urges Dara to stop her father.

For Dara, the price does not feel steep: To rescue her father, the precious cup of the goddess Ceridwen, which he had stolen years before, is sent back to her. What she cannot know is how the goddess brooded over its theft. The return unleashes a storm of revenge against the two gods who aided the thief. What she has learned is that her father lied when he claimed her mother died: She fled the day he stole the cup; for as an elf of the clan bound to Ceridwen, she could not remain with the daughter she loved.

Revenge is a destructive fire. Revenge among the gods and goddesses can engulf the world. Such is the threat that Dara and her friends confront. Sparked first by Dara's father's theft of the cauldron of Ceridwen, unleashed by that cup's return, storms of anger collided in Scotland, unwittingly destroying the ancient home of the goddess of winter, Cailleach. Only an elven queen saw this destruction. Only she imagined a way to placate that goddess' anger. Cailleach had given the Grail, a seeing-stone, to a trusted druid leader before the days of King Arthur.