Reviewed by True
TITLE: Earl Hathbury’s Vessel
SERIES: Duty & Magic
AUTHOR: S. Rodman
PUBLISHER: Dark Angst Publishing
LENGTH: 194 pages
RELEASE DATE: August 14, 2022
BLURB:
After years of cruelty, how do you learn to trust? To love?
It’s 2022 and I live in the world of the British nobility, a secret society of magic, mages and vessels.
I’m just a vessel. A person who grows and absorbs magic within them, but cannot wield it.
On my eighteenth birthday, they gave me to a mage. From that day onwards, every seven days for four long years, he took my body to take my magic.
Until someone stole away and gave me to Archie. The Earl of Hathbury.
Archie is kind, yet giving him my body, and my magic is daunting. But it is my duty, and a necessity. As a vessel, I need a mage to regularly empty me or I could die.
Archie is understanding and gentle, and it’s not long before I fall for him. Finding my duty more of a pleasure.
Archie also seems to enjoy our time together more than is proper, and I am hopeful.
But can I trust him? I’m I really safe? Can I ever be truly free?
High angst. Medium heat. Happy ever after guaranteed.
Please note, this book contains dark themes including on-page punishment and abuse (not between main characters).
REVIEW:
Charles/Charlie Lidford is twenty-two when he can escape his cruel master with the help of Lord Garrington.
Charlie is a vessel, he absorbs magic but can’t do anything with it. He has to be emptied regularly or he would die, through sexual activity, a master can take his magic and empty him. His old master was abusive and cruel, Charlie is afraid of what the new master will give him.
Earl Hathbury made the promise to take Charlie in, hide him and take care of him. The quite informal earl Archibald/Archie Montgomery is stunned by the beauty of this very shy vessel. He wants to comfort him, only the guy is so skittish.
Obviously, he’s been through so much hurt, that Archie has to treat him with much patience and care. Why doesn’t Charlie like him, it hurts to see him with horror in his eyes.
Events are happening and it made for it Charlie even more difficult to trust Archie. The dark things he seems to do are crushing Charlie. His love for Archie is built on sand, he’ll never be his lover, he’s just using him for his magic. Oh, sweet Charlie, if you only knew!
My freaking goodness this was exactly the hurt comfort I loved dearly, I could feel the pain in my bones. It’s not just on a few pages, it continues on and on, awesome, I couldn’t get enough of it.
While it’s a fantasy story, the fantasy was not always prominent present, sometimes I forgot it was a fantasy read. Then, suddenly there was magic, overwhelming magic, portals, spells to protect, awesomely done! It’s not a complicated read, it was mostly focused on Charlie and Archie, and that’s what I loved so much about this story!
Maybe because it’s one of my favorite content, but probably more because it was entertainingly and engagingly written, this story gave me so much pleasure! I drank it all greedy until it was finished and I was left very satisfied.
Yes, for me, a winner in this genre!
RATING: 
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