Reviewed by Colette

TITLE:    Guarded

AUTHOR:   Kim Fielding

LENGTH:   36,754 words

Story Photo:

Two very muscular, shirtless men stand under a cascade of water. The man on the left kneels and rests his head against the other’s torso. His eyes are closed and his palm is pressed against the other man’s heart. The man on the right leans over his companion slightly and gathers his companion’s long wet hair with one hand. He looks down at his companion with tenderness and concern.

STORY LETTER:

Dear Author,

We are on the run, me― a bodyguard― and him― a prince. I have admired him for so long, but he hates me.

*Can be set as a fairy tale/fantasy/medieval. No sci-fi, dystopia, contemporary.

*Feys, warlocks, vampires, shapeshifters if you like (not necessarily), no ghouls, ghosts or zombies.

*Lots of erotic tension, other partners/threesome welcome, non-con okay.

*Must have fighting scene(s) (each other or others) with/without weapons. Slow growing of love. HFN or HEA please.

Thank you very much,

Margitta

REVIEW:

First let me say that I loved this story, it is an almost perfect tale of honor, bravery and love, a chanson de geste – The Song of Volos.

The story is set in an alternate world, in the Kingdom of Weydata. Volos is a guard in the king’s service, he is not from Weydata; his father was from Kozari from a country that Weydata had fought a long and costly war with, a war that claimed 2 sons of the King and Volos’ whole family. His father was once an advisor to the ruling family of Kozari, but was forced to leave when he actively opposed the war with Weydata. He settled there and married into a prominent local family; but assassins found and murdered him and his wife and children – Volos only, escaped.

Volos is asked by the King to accompany Prince Berhanu because he speaks Kozari, but the Prince refuses to have him as a guard, he is quite rude and insulting to him.  When the Prince is captured by the enemy Volos is sent alone to rescue him.

What the Prince endures at the hands of his captors and how Volos saves him makes for a beautiful, heart-wrenching tale.  Volos saves more than the Prince’s life, he saves his heart too.  This is one story where the picture, the letter and the resulting story are perfectly matched!

RATING:  

STORY LINK:  Love’s Landscape