Review - The Dragon's Devotion by Antonia Aquilante

Corentin has a secret. Keeping it means keeping his people safe from an outside world that once hunted them down. That’s why he came to Tournai, to find out what Lord Etan and the royal family really knew about dragons, which most people thought were legends, like the giant cats protecting Tournai. Bastien is related to the royal family, but has spent most of his time running the family’s estates away from the capital since his parents died in a boating accident, along with the Crown Prince and Princess. Bastien and his sister are about to travel to the capital for Etan’s wedding when he receives a note telling him his parents were actually murdered. Things get even more complicated when Bastien meets Corentin, and the two feel an instant attraction to each other. It can’t really go anywhere. Corentin has secrets to keep, and Bastien has responsibilities as a duke, but the heart doesn’t always listen to reason.

The focus of this fifth book of the Chronicles of Tournai returns to the royal family, albeit a more remote member, but still a cousin to the Crown Prince. Since each of the books in the series features a different couple, you don’t have to read them all. However, it’s still a good idea to have read a few of the previous books before this one to give you more background on the royal family and their unique Talent.

One of the recurring themes of this series is men who seem willing to sacrifice their own happiness because a relationship doesn’t fit into their notions of how to fulfill their responsibilities. Bastien is in a very similar situation to Cathal in The Artist’s Masquerade. As a duke, he feels it’s his responsibility to marry a woman and produce an heir. A relationship with Corentin would not only fail to birth an heir, it would be “unseemly” for a duke to marry a man, even though the Crown Prince did it. As you can probably guess, it takes a serious turn of events, not to mention a lot of nagging from his siblings, for Bastien to finally come to his senses.

Corentin is less constrained by his people’s traditions than Bastien, but he still has a secret to keep, and in theory he should be leaving Tournai once he is sure his people are safe from Lord Etan’s curiosity. In the end, the decision is more or less taken out of his hands, but Corentin seems to embrace it when it comes.

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