Lamarchos: Jo Clayton

Book II of Diadem. The diadem that crowned the head of Aleytys was in contact with her central nervous system - and invisible to outsiders. But even she did not know what the diadem's powers were and what they could do for - or to - her. She did know it made her the target of the diadem's unrelenting and non-human owners who had tracked it across space and who were still on her trail. She had started a search for her own people, but before she cold go on she would have to conquer both the unyielding mind-slave band she wore and the menace it held for all who came in contact with her. Cover at by Michael Whelan.