King of Blades (Two Thrones #4) by Nicola M. Cameron
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It's autumn in the beautiful island kingdom of Hellas as King Matthias of Ypres and Queen Danaë of Hellas reunite for their first wedding anniversary and the upcoming birth of their twins. But even as the Hellene capital celebrates with a week's worth of spectacular athletic games, a pair of unexpected visits complicate Matthias and Danaë's romantic interlude, and a concerned Matthias begins to wonder if his beautiful young witch queen is growing tired of him.
Meanwhile, Danaë's brother Darius reunites with his lover Lars, only to learn that the handsome Ypresian officer has life-changing news of his own. When a series of strange accidents begin to plague the palace, Darius and Lars must join forces with the master Aeris mage Petyr Epilonious to investigate them—before the next one kills Darius.
5 out of 5 (exceptional)
King of Blades is the fourth book in the Two Thrones series and we return to Matthias and Danaë. She is well into her pregnancy with twins and has her own concerns which she hides from Matthias. He brings friends along with him on his 'Royal Visit' but doesn't stop to think how Danaë is feeling. Add to that Darius and Lars are reconciling but have their own issues going on too.
As always, this was excellently written with Danaë's worries being perfect for a first time mother, especially with twins. There were no unnecessary dramatics or hysterics. It's a wonder she was even walking and talking with everything that was going on. Talk about stress!
I loved Darius' story and the whys and wherefores of what was happening. Bless him. He picked the wrong person, that's for sure. I hope we see more of him and Lars in future books. Plus the fact, I want to meet Giles!
I am loving this series and this book is no exception. A brilliant story and one highly recommended by me.
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Nicola Cameron is a married woman of a certain age who really likes writing about science fiction, fantasy, and sex. When not writing about those things, she likes to make Stuff™. And she may be rather fond of absinthe.
While possessing a healthy interest in sex since puberty, it wasn’t until 2012 that she decided to write about it. The skills picked up during her SF writing career transferred quite nicely to speculative romance. Her To Be Written work queue currently stands at around nineteen books, and her mojito-sodden Muse swans in from Bali every so often to add to the list, cackling to herself all the while.
Nicola plans to continue writing until she drops dead over her keyboard or makes enough money to buy a private island and hire Rory McCann as her personal trainer/masseur, whichever comes first.