Lio had already wasted so much time and effort carefully constructing a plan for eternity, which had all come to naught. It was a fine, rare feeling to want nothing more than the present.
― Vela Roth, Blood Mercy
Cassia is the bastard daughter of the king, and the offspring of one of his concubines. His true heir, the princess, died years ago, but was finally replaced by the next heir, a boy child who is now a teenage prince.
The king uses Cassia as a chess piece. He hates her but cannot kill her. Instead, he uses her to gain advantages or withhold rewards from his sworn free lords.
The human world and the Vesperine (vampire) world used to exist together, until the great rift hundreds of years ago. The Vesperine live on the other side of the border and humans fear to cross to their side. The few Vesperines that live on the edges of human lands live in fear and must run from those who are convinced they desecrate graves and kill people in order to feed.
Lio is a young Vesperine and the newest diplomat. He and his family are nobles, with his uncle a great statesman and his aunt a deadly general. Lio and his family agree to meet at the Equinox summit to find a way for humans and Vesperine to exist on both sides of the border after a 400 year separation.
Cassia needs the Vesperine, and risks her own life on a gamble that her father will let her live in the same city while the summit is happening. Usually, she is shuttled between various outposts as soon as one of the free lords tries to “seduce” her to gain leverage over the king. Fearing that one lord is getting too close, the king commands that Cassia stay under his watch during the month-long summit.
Cassia has her own agenda, a desperate attempt for real freedom, so she seeks out a Vesperine in the forest during their nightly feeding times and encounters Lio. She has knowledge of Vesperine and knows they never kill to feed and only feed consensually. They never kill animals either. To Lio, the sight of murder and blood spilled out of violence makes him physically ill.
Lio is looking for his true mate. After breaking off a long engagement with a fellow Vesperine, he is shocked to discover that he can smell the most tantalizing human scent of a nearby woman. He feeds on animal blood to fight it, but he officially has it: The Hunger. This burning ache only occurs when Vesperine’s are near their one true mate.
Lio and Cassia start meeting secretly to learn more about one another, specifically how the Vesperine world works, their laws, their biology, as well as why Cassia is so restricted in her choices because of her bloodline and her fear of her father.
I really enjoyed the writing. The world building was interesting, but the MMC bored me to tears. He was the most bland, gentle, tender love interest. Cassia was far more interesting. It made sense why she fell for Lio, but the two of them together was freaking dull. Also, the Vesperine words for body parts were far too distracting. I laughed through the sex scenes.
If anyone has read this and enjoyed it or who read the series, does it get better as the story progresses? Vegetarian, mega-respectful vampires who hate violence were too dull for me. If there is such a thing as going too far against trope, I think this is it.
