Zarek is the most dangerous of all the Dark-Hunters. He endured a lifetime as a roman slave and centuries as a Dark-Hunter in exile. Zarek trusts no one. Because of his steadfast denial to follow any orders, he is kept in Isolation in Alaska where his activity is seriously limited and closely monitored. There are many who fear he will one day unleash his powers against humans as well as vampires. Have nine hundred hears of exile made Zarek too vicious to be redeemed? The gods want Zarek dead but reluctantly agree to allow justice goddess Astrid to judge him. Astrid has never yet judged a man innocent, and yet there is something about Zarek that tugs at her heart. He views even the smallest act of kindness with shock and suspicion. But while Astrid struggles to maintain her impartiality in the face of her growing attraction to Zarek, an executioner has already been dispatched...
I wasn’t expecting to like this installment in the series, mostly because Zarek is not the most charming of Dark-Hunters. I was pleasantly surprised! I ended up like this quite a bit, despite Zarek’s surliness. It helps if it hasn’t been *too* long since you read Night Embrace (Talon’s story), because there’s a lot of reference to Zarek’s part in that book. There were a few things that didn’t make sense to me in this, not the least of which was the story behind Astrid’s blindness. She’s supposed to lose her sight while she’s judging someone, yet she can use her “companion”, Sasha, to see. Isn’t that cheating? Regardless, this troublesome little detail isn’t enough to get in the way of the true purpose of the story, which is to tell a love story about the gods.
