I'm an Extra Who's Trying to Run Away from the Obsessive Male Lead
So here's another one that's just gotten rolling that I'm really enjoying. It's set in a world where Three Great Houses are in charge of protecting the Empire from monsters. In charge of protecting the Great Forest, our heroine's family is in a deadly rivalry with House Fire (they have names, I'm not going to bother use them because they both start with A and blur together in my mind) who guards the Great Sea. Each House and the people who belong to it are locked into their specific magic type - Water, Fire, Wind - and the Head of each House is the strongest magic user in each family.
Off subject, did anyone ever read The Black Jewels series by Anne Bishop when they were probably too young to be reading that kind of thing?
Anyway, the Head of each House ends up with a Phero/Ferro, a soulmate who one day finds the Head's name on their body somewhere. If the Head of the House sleeps with their Phero, body and heart involved, their powers increase exponentially. If however, the Head sleeps without someone that is not their Phero, they will be locked in at their current level of power (and fall behind the other two Houses). And the current Head of the House of Fire, Diello, has always been a weak and sickly heir to begin with.
The Head of the Water House decides to use that.
He claims his daughter, Crua, is the Phero to the Head of House Fire. When Diello sleeps with his daughter, it will forever trap the Head of Fire into his weak powers.
But here's the thing. His 'daughter' Crua is a modern day woman who transmigrated into that body. And she's read the N19 rated dark romance book titled The Three Ducal Houses. She knows that things for Crua end in death when the real Phero for the House of Fire shows up.
She is not here for that!
Instead she comes up with an escape plan. She'll form a contract marriage with Diello, pretending to have won his trust and his virginity, which will keep him safe and buy them time until his true Phero shows up to amplify his power. In return, they'll use the situation to lure the House of Water into their revenge trap and then Crua will be free to divorce Diello so he can remarry his Phero and she can live out the rest of her life comfortably far, far away from all the House power struggles. Of all the male leads in the dark romance novel, Diello is the sole one she remembers being genuinely kind and innocent.
Diello agrees to her plan.
And of course here's where things start to go awry.
Because danged if Crua and Diello don't hit it off and genuinely like each other. They're in this boat together and the friendship and respect that forms between them comes as naturally as the tide coming in. It's so nice to read! The author just writes it so smoothly and I'm a sucker for male/female friendships where they both just generally like hanging out together. Diello very quickly learns he can trust Crua and he also quickly comes to admire her intelligence and her generous heart. Crua knows her new husband's tragic past thanks to the novel she read and is determined to protect him from the darkness of the world they live in that he's too good and noble to succumb to.
Except - y'all - you know me.
This is a dark world. A world where House Fire's motto is: 'do it or don't'. A motto that means either win the day or die in the attempt. Blood contracts to ensure loyalty, becoming a traitor simply for failing to succeed in the battle against the monsters, secrets only kept because murder makes sure there are no tongues left to talk - this isn't a friendly world.
And Diello is absolutely not the kind, innocent male lead the novel led Crua to believe he is.
Nor is he anywhere near as weak magically as he's let the other House's believe.
Dude really, really likes his wife.
And yeah, the real Phero does show up. But if you think Diello is about to go along with it and lose his wife, you're reading the wrong story.
He's going to use every underhanded, dark and determined method at his disposal to keep her - while also playing the roll of sweet and innocent husband to keep from alarming her. Our guy has lived most of his life with the entire world against him and he's already fighting to keep his country safe from the circling vultures. Deciding to add Crua to his list of devotions is not a hard call for him.
I would not be along for this ride if she was adverse to him or if she and he didn't genuinely like each other. They're a power couple, which is one of my favorite types. Crua simply thinks she knows how the story goes and isn't, yet, to the point where she's willing to buck it. Diello has no idea there's a story at all so he's absolutely going to do whatever he chooses when it comes to what he has decided is important. I have no doubt there will be some delicious chills as Crua realizes what kind of person Diello is beyond what she sees on the surface - and, to be fair he is genuinely kind and protective and gentle - with people he merits deserve to be treated that way. He's just also dark and willing to do whatever it takes to make sure his people survive as well.
Crua's not a pushover innocent either. She's upfront with him. She's a magic user of the highest order. She's clever. And she also, is not afraid to get her hands dirty - both with her duties as Lady of Fire as well as to protect Diello. I am very much looking forward to watching them dance around and with each other as this story goes on.
Plus the world building is fantastic! It is a dark world and the different Houses, and their people, have adjusted accordingly. The rules are harsh, the loyalty is soul bound, the sacrifices are made without hesitation. Between the intrigue among the Houses and the sudden change in the way the monsters are becoming a threat, there's a lot going on in this dangerous world and you can feel its ripples through the rest of the story.
I am very much looking forward to seeing where this ride goes.
rating: NC17 - no sex but I'm going to give it that rating for the darkness and the physical violence
warnings: blood, open wounds, soulmates, child neglect, child abuse, family abuse, suicide, martyrdom, really long chins sometimes?, parental abuse, mutilation
done: nope, just got started so now's a good time to catch up
What can I say? If my heroes aren't a bit dark and dangerous what am I even reading anything for?
