CBR16 Bingo: Golden Gold in the title and gold as a pivotal part of the plot. Also pretty much all of the central characters are solid gold.
Kadou is the younger brother of the sultan of Arasht, and is delighted that she’s just given birth to a healthy baby, putting him further down the line of succession. Unfortunately, the baby’s father, a powerful ambassador at court, believes Kadou to be jealous and a threat to both his baby niece and his sister. Nothing could be further from the truth. Unfortunately, because he confides in some of his body guards, who massive overreact when they believe his life is later threatened by said ambassador at a hunt. It ends with two of Kadou’s bodyguards killed and his sister furious with him.
Kadou has to plead with the sultan to let him stay at court. Kadou is in serious disgrace and hates that he has disappointed his sister. He is also fighting guilt, anxiety and depression after the deaths he feels partially responsible for causing. To keep her brother out of trouble, he is given a new personal bodyguard, the very proper and exacting Evemer, who Kadou is convinced despises him. Nevertheless, Evemer takes his duties very seriously, and accompanies Kadou to dangerous parts of the city, even though he clearly disapproves of the prince’s drunken binges, and trying to pick fights. After a memorable occasion when the two are ambushed in an alley, and Kadou ends up being the one to save the life of his bodyguard, Evemer’s opinion of his charge changes.
To get back into his sister’s good graces, Kadou has promised to get to the bottom of a series of thefts that may also be connected to a ring of counterfeiters. Once he and Evemer start to investigate, it’s clear that there may be a number of city officials involved in the case, not to mention the selfsame ambassador who fathered the sultan’s heir and is trying to ingratiate himself further at court. Kadou needs to try to figure out how the thefts and counterfeit coins are connected, why someone is trying to destabilize Arasht’s economy and possibly threaten the security of his sister’s reign, all the while trying really hard not to fall in love with his taciturn bodyguard.
Full review on my blog
Bingo #8: Part 1 – Gemina, Part 2 – Gemina, Dreams – The Ex-Talk, Golden – this, Scandal –
