Theriot’s tale at last! There has been a question mark over Theriot’s fate for much of this series, and although some information has been forthcoming in the most recent books, it really only served to make me more curious about what had happened to him rather than less—by design, no doubt. So hurrah for finally get his story, hurrah for Scotland, and hurrah (as always) for Tamara Leigh’s delightful ability to spin a tale worthy of several hours’ enjoyment.

One of the things I love about this series is that while every hero is necessarily a warrior in some capacity, none of them feel like carbon copies or stereotypes. Tamara Leigh always manages to capture those traits common to warriors and package them into men who are as different as their individual circumstances and personalities are. Having a character whose eyesight had been damaged gave Theriot’s story an added level of uniqueness, and I loved that his point of view was well grounded in both the loss of this sense and the heightening of others. Every time I was in his point of view I felt as though I was relating to the world around him via sound, smell, touch, even those less talked about senses like proprioceptive and vestibular (awareness of the spaces around us and of our movements through them). And to incorporate that even into fight scenes—simply amazing!

Another thing I love about Tamara Leigh’s stories is the way in which she brings her characters into contact with real historical people, and in this case, King Malcolm of Scotland and his soon-to-be wife, Margaret (who later became Saint Margaret) play a significant role courtesy of the heroine, Marguerite. I loved the tenuous respect that built between King Malcolm and Theriot—essentially captor and captive—and the influence the future queen had through both her faith and her strength of mind. And most of all, I loved the tentative and at times strained progression of Theriot and Marguerite’s relationship as Theriot struggled to come to terms with his injury and Marguerite’s part in it.

Once again, Tamara Leigh delivers the medieval goods!