"Heart of Night"  by Angelina J Steffort

           review by Katy Grant  

“Heart of Night” …. made my blood run cold.

At the end of “Wings of Ink” the curse is broken but Myron is left without Ayna the woman who reached his heart and brought freedom to the Crows.

   A prison, no matter how gilded is a prison, still. A guard who smiles to your face then gives orders to have you tortured is an evil jailer, still.  Ephegos’ had hidden behind friendship, swore he only wanted revenge for the death of his sister when he kidnapped Ayna. He lied. Underneath that smile was greed for power, fueled by evil. Pain was his dearest companion, as long as it was someone else’s agony. He would see to it that Ayna suffered every day. For though she believed Myron to be dead, he knew the truth, Myron lived and would suffer the agony of separation from his mate; the pain of knowing that she was in the hands of a traitor willing to kill to get what he so long coveted. In her painful belief of Myron’s death, Ayna wouldn’t let Ephegos win, she would somehow get free. In spite of the physical pain that Ephegos had his persecutor inflect upon her and the emotional agony of losing Myron that was tearing her up inside. She couldn’t allow his death to be meaningless. She would prove worthy of her mate. She had lost so many to death in her short life, her father, Ludelle, her first lover and the crew of the Wild Ray, she thought of as family. Executed by order of the King of Travas, carried out by the General of the prison in Travas. Without her magic, that Ephegos had somehow stolen from her, there was no escaping from him without outside assistance. She had to hang on, to plan, to endure.

   So, when it came even though it came from an unexpected source it was to be accepted with trepidation. One who was bound by a promise tied with magic, the other in the form of a young female servant who could slip around unnoticed. Ayna was loath to trust either since one was inflecting physical torturous pain while the other fed her the poison that kept her magic from reaching her. However, hope, even the slightest bit, was something to hold on to. 

   As usual without knocking, Ephegos enters the room when she sees he has brought another. Though he shaved his head and mustache she would recognize him anywhere, The General. They were working together. The executioner of those she loved, the jailer who’d had her thrown in a dungeon for months before giving her to what she had hoped was to be her death, as the bride of the Crow King. So, there was more than simple revenge that Ephegos reached for.  As the weeks passed, Ayna would learn more about his plan to rise in power, but what his “allies” didn’t know was that Ephegos wasn’t going to stop until he ruled over all the land, and the people, supernatural and human.

   Finally, she had a reason to hope, she must find a way to escape. Forced to dress in finery and sit at the table and eat with her captor, across the table was the reason she had continued to fight death, Myron. Just knowing he was alive meant he loved her as she loved him. He’d risked everything to come for her. They would escape or they would die together.  Ephegos, took great pleasure is seeing them so close, unable to touch, to communicate except with their eyes. He wanted Myron to know that his beloved wife was to be sold to the King of Tavras, a monster in human form.  The man who had given the orders to have her father and the crew of the Wild Ray executed before her eyes. Somehow, she must escape, free Myron and those with him from the dungeons before Ephegos could sell her off.

   Reading this tale made my blood run cold. My heart was breaking for Myron and Ayna, the loss of so many Crow Fae. My skin crawled whenever Ephegos walked on the pages. And I could see the blood rolling off the page as the words described Ayna’s torture. The thing that kept me reading was in part the same as Ayna the belief, the hope that Myron would come, and they would be together again. That Ephegos couldn’t, wouldn’t win. That somehow in the end the Puppeteer and his minions who had manipulated the Fire Fae, the Crows, the humans in battle and hatred towards each other would fall out in the end. But there was more to this. Why did the King want Ayna, a pirate, a traitor to the crown, the wife of the Crow King?  

   There may have been less physical presence of Myron in this tale, but he isn’t any less felt. The story drew me back to images of the of the dark ages, with its political strife, torture as a means of control, feudal Kings and rivalry. Where Kings and their ilk ruled by fear, intimidation, and the brutal force of the lackeys they paid to do their dirty work. I never thought I was a blood thirsty kind of person but by the end of this book I was back in the stands at the Colosseum screaming for the gladiators to spill the blood of their opponent. At the heart of this second book is the love, determination and loyalty that Myron and Ayna earned from others who would risk their very lives to help free them. So yes, it is dark, a bit savage, with a brief moment of romantic spice, characters that got caught up trusting the wrong person, but the strength of the love and belief in the need to right so many past wrongs make this a story I am so glad I didn’t miss. Myron, Ayna and their cohorts fought valiantly but still left us standing on a precipice at the end of this book. I wouldn’t have had it any other way. I recommend this book. However, to truly understand the whole story start at the beginning with “The Fall of The Wild Ray,” then pick up with “Wings of Ink” before diving head long into “The Heart of Night,” while we sit on the edge waiting for “The Claws of Death”…..