Wintermoon Ice [Sons of the Mariner #1] - Sons of the Mariner, #1

Wintermoon Ice is a spellbinding tale of twos: two brothers, two women, two cities, two times -- all locked in a singular battle to save the worlds from a terrible menace. Tessa Kivelson, an archaeologist on present-day Earth, unexpectedly acquires a mirror and a journal from the estate of her long-dead grandmother, Suvi Markku. This bequest thrusts Tessa into danger from the alien Polydactyls, and she turns to her exasperating neighbor Jakob Faircrow for help. He is a capable defender (and later, lover) but she finds his smug arrogance infuriating. Jakob and Tessa must put aside their differences long enough to discover why Suvi left the mirror to Tessa, and why the Polys want it. The journal provides vital clues to Suvi's past life in Severnessa with Jakob's twin brother Lut -- a life that will shortly intersect with Tessa's, when a strange gateway blends past and present, and brings the two women face to face with the creator of the Polydactyls.