2025 romantic fantasy, first of a pair. Osric Mordaunt is an assassin,
but finds himself in need of very specialised healing. So specialised
that only one person has a chance of doing it; and she's Aurienne
Fairhrim, opposed to everything he stands for.
This is explicitly labelled by the author as a slow-burn
enemies-to-lovers romance. And that works rather well for me; there's
none of the casual hopping into bed in a moment of passion that many
romances offer, and the sexual tension largely stays unresolved at
least in this volume.
It's also, rather unexpectedly, a fine piece of fantasy worldbuilding.
The Tiendoms are the ten kingdoms that England broke up into after the
failed Norman Conquest, and while the technological base may not be
entirely consistent there's at least some sense of how it all fits
together. Celtic, and a bit of Norse, magical lore predominate, though
sensible healers (Haelan) don't mess about with that sort of thing
these days.
Still, the primary consideration is the romance, and I welcomed the
progress from a very grudging working together, via small favours, to
something approaching an understanding. Both of these people had plans
that didn't involve becoming friendly with a member of an opposing
order of magicians that their colleagues would do their best to kill
on sight. And each of them has hidden depths.
"You named the dog Rigor Mortis?" asked Aurienne, as Rigor Mortis
ignored the instruction.
"They're named for what was happening when I found them," said
Mordaunt. He pointed at dogs as he listed their names. "Arson.
Perjury. Forgery. Outraging Public Decency. High Treason. The
terrier is Diverse Felonies. The whippet is Crème Brûlée."
"The crème brûlée was a crime?"
"It was the murder weapon."
There's also an epidemic of a pox that nobody except the Haelan seems
to care enough to do anything about, and shenanigans going on among
the petty kingdoms, and altogether there really isn't time for
anyone to fall in love just now. Yeah, good luck with that.
Knightley credits Jerome K. Jerome and P. G. Wodehouse as
inspirations, and while this isn't exactly the romantic comedy I was
expecting it is both romantic and a comedy. Altogether rather more
serious, and more fun, than it had appeared.