Angelica

Legend has it that the original settlers of Samaria were carried there by the loving hands of the god Jovah. To keep the peace - he created a legion of land-dwelling angels, led by an appointed Archangel. Now, two hundred years later, Jovah's latest appointee is the Archangel Gaaron, whose dependability and allegiance to the people of Samaria make him a wise choice. And for Gaaron's life-mate, his Angelica, Jovah has chosen the woman Susannah, of the nomadic Edori tribe.
With trepidation, Susannah bows to the will of Jovah. For her heart is still with her people and her Edori lover, faithless though he might be.
In the lofty reaches of the Angel Eyrie, an unspoken affection slowly develops between the two. The word comes to Gaaron of a terrible threat besetting the land - black-clad strangers who call fire down from the sky, leaving death and destruction in their wake.

Sharon Shinn is a journalist who works for a trade magazine. Her first novel, The Shapechanger's Wife, was selected by  Locus as the best first fantasy novel of 1995. She has won the William C. Crawford Award for Outstanding New Fantasy Writer, and was twice nominated for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. A graduate of Northwestern University, she has lived in the Midwest most of her life.