Reviewed by: Sue Eaton

TITLE: The Captive’s Curse

SERIES: Twilight Mages #2

AUTHOR: Eliot Grayson

PUBLISHER: Self Published

LENGTH: 278 pages

RELEASE DATE: May 30, 2024

BLURB:

Unwanted. Unloved. Unransomed. And unable to control his dawn magic by any other means…

At odds with his family and on the run, Lord Cyril is taken prisoner and held in a gloomy mountain fortress—which he brightens up quite a bit, thank you. His captor wants him to be quiet and not cause any trouble, but who cares? Cyril may need the mysterious highwayman to quell his dawn magic and keep him sane, but he’s overbearing, sardonic, and unpleasant.

Mostly. Except when Cyril can’t live without his touch, or his voice, or his rare smile…

Ser Enzo, a robber and (not quite) a gentleman, desperately wants his obnoxious, adorable, irritating, irresistible captive off his hands…and other parts. Lord Cyril’s wanton, irrepressible, and worst of all—his family won’t take him back. Enzo can’t release him without being paid. It’s against his principles.

But so is keeping his bewitching captive forever. Cyril may be his prisoner, but Enzo’s dangerously close to losing his own freedom by falling under the mage’s spell…

REVIEW:

This is a great second book of the series, it runs concurrently with the first book but only by a small degree.  I loved the premise of this book and both main characters are brilliant and spend a lot of time trying to dislike each other.

Cyril is a noble man, a mage but he only has a small amount of magic, he doesn’t fit in with his family who are embarrassed and seem to dislike him immensely.  He moves to the beat of his own drum and refuses to be embarrassed by his Dawn Magic and the fact that he needs a lover to prevent his pain.

After being kidnapped by a devilishly handsome man his life takes an unexpected turn, he holds his head high and expects to be ransomed in a few days.  When his family let him down, and he realises he might be stuck in the gloomy castle with his kidnapper for the foreseeable future he endeavours to make the most of it.

Enzo, the mysterious kidnapper doesn’t know what to make of Cyril but with his reputation to uphold he can’t let him go without the ransom being paid.

The two of them have an odd relationship, seemingly they don’t like each other but seem to be drawn to each other.  Cyril makes friends with everyone in the castle except Enzo but can’t seem to stop staring at him.  As the time for Cyril’s curse draws near he wonders how he will manage.  Will Enzo step into the breach and fulfil his needs or will he leave Cyril to suffer alone?

Cyril is also intriqued by the castle, is it the one from the legends?  But if so, how did Enzo come to be there and how can he be untouched by the ghosts that haunt the grounds?

There is deception afoot as someone will stop at nothing to capture Enzo, will Cyril be caught up in betrayal or will they be able to thwart the threat to their happiness?

A great book with snarky, smart characters.  I really like how books one and two ran concurrently, it was really cleverly done and it was a joy to see the first book reflected in the second in a believable intersection.

RATING:

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