Yes, there is a cliffhanger. It’s not a really bad one, but it still leaves us on a critical point, and I’m so invested in these characters and their story, I’m absolutely desperate to get my hands on the next book of the series. The heroine and sassy, hardheaded, and awesome to read about. However, her inner monologues could have been cut down a bit.

I absolutely adore Emelin and Creon. Emelin is so fierce and strong and Creon is just everything I want in a broody misunderstood dark fae! I loved all their interactions, especially the ones where cacti were mentioned. Emlin has magical abilities, but are kept secret from her human people. One night, she awakens to her island on fire and everyone missing. All except a fae male with wings, who's voice was taken away from him 100 years ago. He takes her away to his island, filled with dangerous fae. She is forced to live with him to stay safe from the evil queen. But why did he want her so badly?? 😏Others found the colour thing interesting, and I would have agreed if it was like a specific power line and not an all encompassing magic system. And her ending up with a painter seems really corny and convenient honestly.

The Silent Death is supposed to be the Mother’s loyal servant, her invincible warrior, her ruthless, soulless killer. But in the shadows he is playing a game of his own, and he needs Emelin’s magic to win it. The most interesting thing about this was our mute assassin. Was curious about that. Unfortunately I felt the way it was written his character was overshadowed by Miss Special Pants. When a character can’t speak you need your narrator to include more observations or content to balance things out. Otherwise, you have what happened here where everything is about her and our assassin is like a fly buzzing by every now and again. Probably why she was so annoying was because the MMC wasn’t fully balancing her out and drawing attention away from her neurosis and budding hero complex. I think this is my absolute favorite book by Lisette Marshall so far(and all her work is amazing)! She really outdid herself with this beauty! It's so good! Ok, so it's clear from my initial review that I was going through quite a bit. I'm going to disagree with my past self when I said this book slowed down. I did not see that this second time around. I enjoyed the book much more as well. The hero continues to be one of my favorites and I can't wait to see where this story is going with the next book! Still a 5 star read ♡Em, my baby, is an emotionally intelligent Heroine (big H) that had to learn to show a submissive and unambitious side. Until the most feared of the empire assassins sees her true colors (literally) and threatens her and her family's lives.