In March 2011, Anne Bishop returned to her New York Times
bestselling and “darkly fascinating”[1] Black
Jewels series. In Twilight's Dawn,
Bishop returns to the Blood realm with four all-new captivating
novellas.
Winsol Gifts
synopsis:
Daemon,
the Black-Jeweled
Warlord Prince of Dhemlan,
is settling into
his first year of married life with his Witch Queen,
Jaenelle.
But as the
thirteen-day celebration of Winsol draws near,
Daemon finds
himself being pulled in too many directions as he plays host to his
formidable family.
A few weeks after the events of Tangled
Webs,
Daemon visits Tersa, his mother, to check if his gift for Lucivar
was ready; likewise, after Daemon leaves, Lucivar arrives to do the
same. Concerned that this may harm her children—despite the fact
that Lucivar isn't biologically hers—Tersa asks Saetan to
investigate his sons motives. He does and finds nothing wrong with
the gifts. Beale and Jaenelle remind Daemon of a few things that he,
as the head of Dhemlan and the SaDiablo family, has to help prepare
for Winsol as he and Jaenelle are formally hosting the family.
Surreal and Rainer show up, still hurt over the spooky house
incident. Rainier is going to Dharo to spend time with his family who
can't stand him because he wears Opal which is considered a dark
jewel. Rainier still blames himself for what happened a the spooky
house. So does Surreal, though she won't admit it. Daemon offers him
work should his leg never fully heal. Rainier informs Daemon that
he'll be spending a few weeks in Ebon Rih after Winsol. Lucivar wants
to build Rainier and Surreal back up to their former strengths. Karla
is called in by Jaenelle to take a look at Rainier; it is revealed
that Karla adopted Della and KaeAskavi—the child that was the sole
survivor in Queen
of the Darkness—and
Prince Hagen, Karla's Master of the Guard, has become Della's
surrogate father. Rainier visits Surreal. Surreal cares for Rainier
and wants him to stay and not go to his family. Lucivar wants another
child and Daemon tries to talk him out of it. Saetan asks for
solidarity for Winsol and Daemon obeys for the moment. Surreal goes
to drop off a present to Rainier's place and finds he's still there.
Angry, Surreal storms into his apartment and invites him to the
SaDiablo family Winsol party. Jaenelle dresses in her black dress
that she wore as Witch and dances with Saetan while Daemon and
Lucivar visit Tersa; it's a new family tradition for Winsol Eve.
Shades of Honor
synopsis: (broken into five parts)
Still recovering
from the ordeal that left her wounded and angry,
Surrreal returns
to Ebon Rih on the orders of Warlord Prince Lucivar.
And when her
former lover Falonar ruthlessly challenges the rule of her family,
Surreal may
finally succumb to the darkness burning inside her.
Several months before the events of The
Shadow Queen,
the Eyrien Prince Falonar plots to remove Lucivar from his position
as the Warlord Prince of Ebon Rih, intending to take control.
Meanwhile, Surreal and Rainier settle into The Tavern that Merry and
Briggs run. Surreal meets Lucivar at his mothers place and discuss
her health. Saetan implants the memory of what Lucivar looked like
when he arrived in Kaeleer in Heir
to the Shadows
into Rainiers mind and discovers that Lucivar's right ankle still
gives him trouble. The next day at the communal eyrie, Lucivar
admonishes Jillian for skipping school to train with the warriors,
Surreal and Rainier. Falonar, who's sleeping with Jillian's sister
Nurian, forbids Jillian from training. Surreal starts a verbal fight
with Falonar. Lucivar breaks it up telling Surreal and Falonar off
before finding out that Jillian fears someone and that's why she
wants to train. Lucivar gives her an ultimatum: she goes to school
and he'll train her in the afternoon. Jillian agrees and leaves while
Falonar puts Rainier through his paces with Hallevar watching.
Falonar forces his way into Rainier's mind, looking for something to
use against Rainier and breaks the man's leg.
Lucivar demands to know
why Falonar pulled that stunt; Falonar says it's because “a cripple
doesn't have any place among Eyrien warriors.” Surreal, in anger,
throws herself at Falonar. Lucivar tries to stop her, but she rips
through Falonar's Sapphire shields and rips his arm with a sight
shielded stiletto. Lucivar tells Surreal to go to the Keep. Surreal
points out that Falonar may have harmed a cripple but he wouldn't
have survived a demon-dead Eyrien Warlord any better than Rainier.
Lucivar's shocked that Surreal is riding the killing edge. Lucivar
dismisses Falonar, promising to see him later. Lucivar calls Jaenelle
over via Daemon to heal Rainier. Lucivar discusses his worry with
Daemon and Jaenelle threatens to strip Falonar's legs muscle by
muscle if he gets near Rainier again. Rainier, delusional, tells
Daemon what Falonar did. Falonar tells (snarls more like) Lucivar
that the Eyriens in Ebon Rih have no honor, no soul. Falonar tries to
convince him to give up the title of ruler of Ebon Rih and walk away;
Lucivar says no. Saetan tells Lucivar what Andulvar would've done and
Lucivar takes the hint. Endar visits Rainier in The Tavern and they
talk and play an Eyrien kids card game. After Endar, hallevar and
several other Eyriens leave, Lucivar asks Rainier what that was all
about. Rainier says hat Endar is looking for other work as he's not
cut out to be a warrior. Lucivar notes that Surrreal, while polishing
all her knives with a terrifyingly erotic smile, might be slipping
into the Twisted Kingdom. Merry and Briggs have come down with
sickness and Surreal decides she and Rainier should run The Tavern.
Daemon hires Rainier as a secretary.
Lucivar calls all the Eyriens
living in Ebon Rih to a meeting. He tells them that the majority of
them have fulfilled their contracts and are free to look elsewhere
for work. Some start degrading Lucivar and he orders them out of Ebon
Rih. Falonar talks to Nurian and they get into a fight. He slaps her
and she orders him out of her house after she finds out that he beat
Jillian “for her own good.” Nurian goes to Lucivar and she tells
him she wants to stay and help the Riada Healers and Lucivar learns
that the women want to keep learning the Eyrien warrior drills
because Marion looks graceful with her walk. Endar goes to Rainier
and he tells him about Lucivar cutting them loose; Rainier mentions
that Lucivar is looking for a teacher and Endar jumps at the chance.
Surreal tells an angry Falonar that the Eyriens aren't the ones the
people in Kaeleer fear, it's the Dea al Mon who hold that title. She
also mentions what she and Titian did to Kartane and Falanor flees.
Lucivar has been summoned by Falonar and leaves Surreal to watch
Daemonar. Surreal freaks out and, when Daemonar sight-shields
himself, she recalls the kids dying in the spooky house and panics,
tearing the house upside down before passing out. Falonar tries to
use a compulsion spell to force Lucivar to relinquish his hold on
Ebon Rih. It doesn't work and Lucivar returns home to find Daemonar
and the wolf-pups saying sorry because Daemonar believes he “broke
Auntie Srell.”
Lucivar asks Marion to get Nurian and Saetan. Saetan
and Nurian say that Surreal is alive and not in the Twisted Kingdom.
Daemon goes to look something up for Surreal and accidently stumbles
into Hell. According to Draca, Hell chooses its ruler and from the
way Daemon ended up, it seems he'll take over after Saetan has become
a whisper in the Darkness. Randahl tells Rainier that the Eyriens in
the northern camp are rebelling against Lucivar and following orders
from Falonar. Geoffrey shows Daemon the map of Hell. Witch helps
Surreal cleanse herself of all the guilt of the children she couldn't
save. Witch finishes her healing and Surreal comes back better than
she was before. Chaosti has come to Surreals aid as she is family and
demonstrates to Falonar when he's foolish enough to challenge him
just why the Dea al Mon are the most feared people in Kaeleer.
Lucivar spars with Surreal and allows Surreal to strike a blow
against him and when she finds out he left himself open on purpose,
she gets angry and storms out. Falonar's Eyrien allies trick Lucivar
to entering the killing field and he slaughters them all. Falonar
took Hallevar, Rothvar, Zaranar, Tamnar, Endar, and Kohlvar for a
“security patrol” and arrive to see Lucivar cut down the last
Eyrien traitor. Lucivar tells Falonar of the death of Zuulaman.
Daemon and Lucivar talk and Lucivar mentions that he thought it was
strange that the other Eyriens with crossbows were trying to attack
his left ankle and Daemon tells him that Rainier lied when Falonar
broke Rainiers barriers. Lucivar put Falonar in Queen Perzha's court
so he can finish his contract and it'd put Falonar in his place
because Perzha doesn't give a damn if someone is aristo or not.
Daemon takes Falonar to Hell and leaves him there as punishment for
hurting one of his employees and the demon-dead think Daemon is The
High Lord of Hell. The novella ends with Surreal going to Dea al Mon.
Family
synopsis:
When someone lays
a vicious trap for Queen Sylvia and her sons, the fallout completely
disrupts the lives of the ruling family of Dhemlan.
Now they have to
uncover the identity of the warlord known only as No Face before he
returns to finish what he started.
A decade after the events of Shalador's
Lady,
Sylvia is attacked by a faceless killer and killed. She goes to the
Keep and finds Saetan who helps her transition to demon-dead.
Jaenelle, Daemon, Surreal, and Rainier arrive at the place where she
was staying and rescue Sylvia's son, Beron while the Sceltie Tildee
took Mikal to Tersa's. Saetan needs to talk to Daemon about some
children who've recently become cildru
dyathe.
Beron is in a deep sleep and Jaenelle wakes him in a dream when he
shows her No Face's face. They set a trap for him by using Daemon as
a decoy. When No Face arrives and demands that Tersa hand over the
boy, Tersa forgets her role and rips his bones from his body, an act
that causes Daemon to vomit. Saetan and Sylvia (finally) get married
with her promising to help take care of the cildru
dyathe
and to let him know the second she can't/doesn't want to continue to
live as a demon-dead and he'll return her to the Darkness. Jaenelle
has decided to take up the mantle of being a Queen again and rule
Halaway, but Rainier will serve as the First Escort since Daemon, as
the Warlord Prince of Dhemlan, can't be the consort, but he is still
her husband.
The High
Lord's Daughter synopsis: (broken into five parts)
After losing the
two most important people in his life,
Daemon has assumed
his father,
Saetan's,
role as High Lord
of Hell and built a wall around his heart.
But when he
inadvertently forges a new connection,
will it be enough
to break him free from his loveless life?
One year to the day after Jaenelle's death, Daemon's been in mourning
and, as he promised to Jaenelle, now that a year has passed, he has
to move on.
At breakfast, Daemon becomes angry when Surreal tries to keep her
promise to remove Jaenelle's effects—it was Jaenelle's last command
for her. Daemon relents. The Weaver of Dreams is looking over a web
spun by Witch and notices that the dormant web holds longings and
whispers of wishes and are bound to specific dreamers. Lucivar and
Marion have had a girl who've they've named Titian and, while walking
back to the Keep, Daemon notes that Saetan is preparing to go back to
the Darkness. Saetan tells Daemon that he never wanted him to become
the next High Lord of Hell and that the reason he didn't tell Daemon
was because he hasn't fully taken up his life since Jaenelle died
seventeen years ago. Surreal is upset because Daemon ends up sleeping
with a woman—Surreal calls her Dorothea because she seems like
her—and Surreal tried to keep her away since before Jaenelle passed
away.
Daemon absorbs Saetan's power when the time is right and the
former High Lord of Hell becomes a whisper in the Darkness. After
Saetan's funeral, Surreal and Daemon end up reminiscing about Saetan
and have sex in Daemon's bedroom. Surreal realizes later that
Jaenelle had been preparing her for this over the last few years of
her life. She and Daemon continue to have sex for the next few hours.
Four days later, when Surreal catches the Gray Wind and goes to the
family town house in Amdarh, and after using her Birthright Green,
she vomits on the rug and the staff and two Healers converge on her
and tell her she's pregnant. A couple of days later, she tells Daemon
who says he wants marriage. Surreal doesn't want anything from him,
but he's insistent and tells her that she won't just be marrying the
Warlord Prince of Dhemlan but also the High Lord of Hell. She's
slightly nervous about the whole thing but agrees. During the
reception (Bishop skips the wedding) Daemon has the Scelties Morghann
and Khary guard her—Surreal would say that Daemon sicced the
Scelties on her. Hours before the birth, Surreal snaps at Daemon
saying this is all his fault. Surreal panics during the childbirth
and stabs Daemon with an open metalwork glove with the talons honed
to a killing edge (it was a gift from Rainier who is long dead) when
the baby girl is removed from her womb. Surreal names her Jaenelle
Saetien in honor of two people who meant a great deal to her.
Jaenelle Saetien has the pointed ears of the Dea al Mon and her
mother. Daemon calls her witch-child. Lucivar notes that Daemon is
loosing tons of blood from the wound and orders Nurian to heal him.
Marion notes to Lucivar that Jaenelle Saetien has the same birthday
as Jaenelle Angelline and wonders if anyone else has noticed. A few
years later, Jaenelle Saetien is galloping on a black kindred horse
who is an Opal-Jewled Warlord Prince named Nightwind from the Isle of
Scelt (Sh-ellt). Daemon notes that Nightwind looks like Dark Dancer.
Tersa tells Surreal that her Jaenelle is the child of her heart, that
of the golden-haired child she knew without the pain and the exact
child that Daemon needs in order for his heart to heal. Surreal asks
her how she can be sure and Tersa replies that Witch told her. In the
Misty Place, Daemon talks to Jaenelle Angelline who tells him that
he's taking back his heart slowly and that when he has all of it
back, he should start sharing it again. In the morning, Jaenelle
Saetien has something to show her father. He tells her to wait
outside so he can get dressed and she brushes it off because she's
seen boy parts before and that Uncle Lucivar showed her. Daemon, in
rage, barges into Lucivar's eyrie and demands an explanation. Lucivar
tells him that it happened on a weekend. Lucivar was relaxing in a
hot spring pool when Daemonar screamed. Lucivar, without bothering to
put on a towel, burst onto the scene and saw Titian and Jaenelle
trying to see what it was that Daemonar had between his legs because
older girls were talking about it and acting silly. Lucivar calls in
a towel and tells her that now she knows and sets some rules.
Meanwhile, during this, Marion is taking care of baby Andulvar.
Daemon apologizes, saying that the nightmares about Jaenelle
Angelline's past and they became foremost in his mind. Lucivar
mentions that he still has those nightmares as well and he would've
done the same had Titian told Lucivar the same thing. Daemon comes
back to the Hall and sees Surreal sitting on a couch reading a book
with her corssbow aimed at the door. Surreal tells him to apologize
to their daughter.
He does and learns that Jaenelle's new friends are
a half-grown Warlord Prince Arcerian cat named Kaele wearing a Green
Birthright Jewel—who tells Daemon that the Weaver of Dreams says
it's time—and the other is a unicorn Warlord Prince named
Moondancer and can trace his bloodline back to a Warlord Prince named
Kaetien. Surreal mentions that Jaenelle Saetien has another
friend—special, secret, someone she's known forever and that she
meets in dreams. She also notes that Kaele is descended from Kaelas,
Moondancer from Kaetien, the Scelties are called Morghann and Khary
and wonders if a tiger and a dragon are going to show up next. Daemon
wonders what the kindred know that they don't. The Birthright
Ceremony has arrived. A dozen aristo families are gathered at a
Sanctuary in a central Dhemlan Province including Daemon and Surreal
with Lucivar and Marion. It's Jaenelle's day. Surreal is worried
about Jaenelle receiving her Birthright Jewels as she can't get a
basic sense of what they'll be for her daughter. Tersa takes Jaenelle
Saetien—calling her a Sister—to receive the Jewel. Jaenelle
Saetien's jewel hasn't arrived yet and Tersa says that Daemon won't
have answers until the last is done.
Surreal takes her daughter and
says before the rest of the aristos that she acknowledges Daemon as
the father and grants him all paternal rights from this day forward.
Jaenelle Saetien walks the distance to Daemon. Tersa declares that
“She has come” and Jaenelle Saetien goes to collect her jewel.
Daemon goes after her and sees his daughter holding Twilight's
Dawn—not the full version Jaenelle Angelline had, but it contains
the powers of Rose, Summer-sky, Purple Dusk, Opal and Green—and
says she knew about this. Daemon asks her how and she tells him about
the Lady in the Misty Place, the one called the Song in the Darkness:
Jaenelle Angelline. According to Jaenelle Saetien: “'She said, when
you were ready, you would tell me stories about her. About when she
lived in the Realms. She said Uncle Lucivar and Mama could tell me
stories too.'” Daemon talks to Witch and learns that his daughter
is Dreams Made Flesh: his dreams and Surreals dreams and her dreams
for the both of them. She also tells him to move on and says that
she'll be with him because no one should stand that deep in the
abyss. Later that night, as Daemon made love to Surreal, he says her
name and to her “it sounded like a promise, like a lovely caress.”
A great finale to the whole series and should this be the final set of stories told, it will hold the title as the best in the series since Queen of the Darkness. Wonderful cast of old and new characters, great prose, and excellent character arcs. I've heard wonderful things about Anne Bishops The Ephemera series and The Tir Alainn trilogy. I think I'll give them a go.
[1] SF Site
