Emperor Nechtyn Jahn Calcus needs to find a wife. His advisors are putting pressure on him and if he doesn’t do the choosing, they will. So he decides to ask that the six women who are being promoted as canidates be brought to the castle and then he will choose from among those women. Jahn thinks this is a good plan, but remains unaware that some people will do anything they can to prevent him from choosing a bride.
Prince Alixandyr, Jahn’s younger twin, is one of the men sent to retrieve a bridal candidate. He is sent to bring back the Princess Edlyn. When he arrives at her father’s court, not only is her father all too happy to send her to the Emperor, but he also makes the Emperor a gift. That gift is a woman painted in blue who is destined to be the sex slave of any man who owns her.
Sanura is a member of the Agnese tribe from the recently discovered Island of Claennis. She knows that the men of Columbyana do not understand her powers. They see her only as a desirable woman whom they cannot touch. They do not know that she can see into their souls and that when they have sex, she knows everything about them from their most desired wants to the depravity in their souls. She is painted in blue and guarded by two men who will kill any man (besides her owner) who is found with that blue paint on his body.
Alix has always done the right thing which is not easy given the duality of his nature and the darkness that he fights to control on a daily basis. Alix’s control is challenged by his desire to have Sanura. Alix is not sure that he can give her to his brother or that he can keep himself from touching her.
Ms. Jones has created an alternate universe ruled by demons, magic and the power of men who control these elements. This novel has all of these elements as well as the jealousy of a younger brother and the treachery of a royal court. She blends these into a story that takes the reader away from the modern world. This is the first book in her new series and so leaves the reader with a lot of open ended questions that will hopefully be addressed in future novels.
In my opinion, this book was just okay. I felt that the story line lacked depth and at times was confusing. The interjection of the love story between Laris and Verity, another bridal candidate, took away from the flow of the story and led me to wonder what these two characters had to do with Alix and Sanura. It almost felt as though Ms. Jones did not have enough to say about either couple and needed to combine both their stories to get a full length novel. I could be wrong in this assumption and perhaps the relationship will become clearer in future novels.
This is an 
