"Beyond this world, behind the veil of history, lies the kingdom of the Rus, the land where all the magic fled..." "Rosa Kovalenka is wild and beautiful and broken; when she returned to Russia, her homeland, she left behind her lover Daniel and part of herself. She is trying to rebuild her life when she finds a golden bear, hidden in a bathhouse wall, and her inherited Second Sight recognises the sudden lash of power as something otherworldly, something dangerous. Released from the protection of the bathhouse, the golden bear starts to recall the magic that once raged through the lands of the Rus." "That magic has been held at bay too long, and now the secret Russia, that cruel, hard land of Baba Yaga, seductive, savage rusalki, wind demons and water devils, is threatening to tear down the Veil and overwhelm the real world." "But Daniel, all unwitting, has been caught up in the golden bear's magic, and to save him, Rosa, caught herself in a shadowy tangle of grief and desire and treachery, must draw on her own untried powers to rescue her lover and mend the Veil between the worlds."--BOOK JACKET.