Neither of us trust each other. When we do-everything will change.
Betrayer
LiAnne Kay
Cursed Bloodstone, book one
Kindle Edition, 344 pages
Published January 31, 2023
ASIN B09ZRR6CP1
She marries him for revenge.
He marries her for her serpent mark.
On the eve of her twentieth birthday, Sol is kidnapped by a barbarian. He wants her to use the magic she doesn’t have to heal someone. She wants to avenge her mother by killing his chieftain.
Desperate to get close to their leader, she marries one of their warriors. Her husband vows to never bed her. She vows to win his favor.
When she’s plunged into his city, she realizes the depth of his people’s prejudices. They will never accept her if she doesn’t become like them. Even then, it may not be enough to obtain the vengeance she craves.
Author note: From the same world as Tattered. Betrayer is an enemies-to-lovers fantasy romance with plenty of tension and steam. It’s suitable for 18+. It’s the first in a series, ending with a cliffhanger.
I appreciate a book that hits the ground running and Betrayer does just that.
Sol is a Kyanite that has abandoned her people for a quest of vengeance against the Bloodstone, a fierce race of warriors that attacked her village years ago and slaughtered her Mother. Specifically she's after their chieftain, Roland.
But to get close enough, she has to infiltrate their tribe and as luck would have it, such an opportunity comes when Luc bribes a barmaid where Sol also works to abduct the seemingly powerful Kyanite in order to save his sister, Leah.
As a Kyanite, Sol should possess the magic of healing that her people are renowned for. And yet, while she may have the knowledge, she lacks the ability. Fortunately, her education in medicinal herbs allow her to treat Leah and earn her a chance at joining the Bloodstone.
A chance Gabriel is determined to block.
But Gabriel is a man of his beliefs. And the Seer has divulged that the mark of a serpent is tied to his future.
It is a mark that Sol bears on her wrist since the time when the gods cursed the Bloodstone and took away their powers.
When Sol offers herself as a wife to any of the Bloodstone in order to stay among them, it falls to Gabriel to bind with her.
I could go on and on with retelling this story because I was that invested in it. And after my last read (Avidian) it was nice to have a lead female with an actual focus on her mission. Gabriel, I adored. Things were simple for him. "I have no intention of bedding you." "I don't trust you." "Everything you say is a lie."
That's right. Fight the good fight, Gabriel.
He won't bed her, but he'll sure as hell help her get rid of a dead body when the need arises. He doesn't trust her, but he forges her a dagger easy to conceal.
That's certainly one way to handle the situation.
The secrets swirling around Sol and Gabriel feed into the tension between them. Not just her secrets, but his. This book very much needed a POV chapter from Gabriel. His suspicions. His inner battles. I wasn't sure what I expected from the ending but Hector wasn't it. Nor was it the ending I wanted.
3 or 4 out of 5 stars. I truly don't know how I feel about that ending.
Available in ebook | paperback | audiobook
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