Preece is used to being alone. Everyone fears the tall warrior who always wear a black cape and cowl to cover his face. It is rumored that he can kill anyone, anywhere and he is called Preece the Warmonger or sometimes The Royal Blade. Yet Preece is tired of being a mercenary, tired of death. He takes jobs just to earn enough money to buy his own ship and sail off to an island paradise that his guardian, an old wizard, has long told tales of. He is eager to make his dream a reality, when the king forces him to agree to escort Moreya, orphaned daughter of one of the king's most revered ambassadors, to her new fiance, prince of a neighboring kingdom.
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Moreya is half Yune, a beautiful and sensual race well known for their prowess in the bedroom, and is amazingly lovely. With her lavender hair and gorgeous figure, Preece knows that it will not be easy to escort her through the sparsely habited no-man's land between the two kingdoms. Preece is stunned by Moreya's kindness to him and knows that he needs to stay as far away from her as possible or she will ruin all of his plans, but he cannot, no matter how hard he tries. When Moreya bursts into his room one evening, she is stunned to discover that Preece is not horribly disfigured, as is widely believed, but is the most beautiful man she has ever seen. Trying to ignore her physical attraction to Preece, Moreya demands to know if her future groom does indeed prefer men to women. When Preece reluctantly admits that the prince does, Moreya offers him a fortune to help her escape, but no price is worth the king's wrath.
Moreya despairs of escaping her upcoming nuptials and cannot understand why Preece hides himself from others. Preece cannot understand why the king is forcing Moreya to marry the prince, when it is such a waste of her Yune beauty and sensuality. Preece quickly understands the king's reasoning when Moreya saves the caravan by displaying her power over dragons and their attraction to her. He knows that the prince will soon die if he is ever with Moreya outside and then the king can simply take over the neighboring kingdom. Moreya soon learns that Preece hides his face because he is the last of the Waniand's, an ancient race that used to rule the land in peace and harmony. They are descendants of the bear god and have great power and skill, but are mocked because they only go into sexual heat a few times a year, and then they mate like animals, almost insatiable.
Preece knows that he cannot let Moreya be married to the prince and end up killing the whole royal procession, as she would certainly be killed afterward and be blamed for the ensuing war. Moreya is still attracted to Preece and does not care that he is a Waniand. Desperate to escape, Preece proposes that they marry and set sail for his tropical island. They bond and mate for life and Moreya proves to be Preece's match in the bedroom and outside of it. For the first time, Preece knows what it is like to be happy. But they are soon betrayed by one of Preece's own men and just barely manage to escape with their lives, cruelly separated as they are forced into hiding.
Preece makes it to his tropical paradise, where the islanders do everything they can to try and heal him from the terrible torture that Preece underwent in the dungeons. He dreams of Moreya and is desperate to find her and reclaim her love. But the islanders hide a great secret - Preece is not the last Waniand and the wizard who raised Preece raised him to fulfill an ancient prophecy that will change the world. Preece is furious and hurt, not knowing who he can trust. He comes to believe that Moreya's love was a cruel trick, just another spell cast by the wizard whom he thought loved him. He demands that the wizard remove all memory of his mate, Moreya, and that he never have to look about the face of the wizard, the only parent he has ever known, again. When no one can dissuade him, the wizard, heartbroken, casts his terrible spell upon Preece. Moreya is safe in a convent far away and is sure that Preece will come for her, but times passes and no one comes. When she hears of a group of Waniands in her homeland, she is determined to journey there and find her long-lost love. Yet, what will she do when Preece denies ever having met her?
This book was a wonderful romantic fantasy with an absorbing plot and fabulous characters. Moreya was a strong heroine, but still feminine and beautiful. Preece was a wonderful hero, unwittingly groomed to be the savior of his people and understandably bitter at feeling he had no choices in life. Their attraction was very strong and the scenes between the two of them are hot. The supporting characters were a little hazy, but the two main characters were larger than life and seemed to overshadow everyone else in the book so it is barely noticeable. The story is evenly paced and makes for a nice, fast read with plenty of little surprises for the reader. I thought that the history of the land was well developed and enjoyed this book immensely. It is only available as a download, but is worth the price and the format.
The review of this Book prepared by Debbie
