Seduced, betrayed, captured, enslaved. M'cal has been a fool and now he's paying a steep price for his indiscretion. A Merman, snared and compelled to do the bidding of a witch, M'cal is a soul stealer, taking the souls of the innocent and trusting. And all for the witch who has marked him as hers. M'cal fights her, he struggles, he tries to refuse. His torment only amuses and excites her. Now he's been given a new name in a new hunt -- Kitala Bell. He obeys and begins to search for Kitala, for he's bound, and there is nothing to do in the end but obey.

A concert musician, Kitala is one with her music. She's skilled, famous, loved...and a little lonely. She also bears a terrible burden. Kit is able to see the future, but only violence and death. So, for her own protection and sanity, she keeps herself a little apart from the rest of humanity. Kit finds herself in an impossible situation. She's being hunted by a man she can't help but be attracted to, for reasons she can't comprehend; a man she trusts beyond all understanding, even when he himself warns her off.

The witch sees Kit's power and knows it for what it is. She understands Kit's gift and wants it for herself. So she sends M'cal to steal it and bring it to her. What she can't foresee is that Kit and M'cal will form a bond so powerful that everything the sorceress has worked for is in danger of being undone. And that is something she simply cannot allow. She will do everything in her power, include destroying Kit and M'cal, to ensure that nothing prevents her plan from unfolding.

Marjorie M. Liu is one of the best paranormal romance writers around today. Her characters and stories are always worth investing my precious and limited time on. She has never disappointed me yet.

Book Summary

Against her will, Kitala Bell foresees the future. Now her own future is in peril. From the ocean’s depths rises an impossible blend of fantasy and danger, a creature whose voice is seduction incarnate, whose song can manipulate lives the way that Kitala herself manipulates the strings of her violin…even to the point of breaking. He is a prince of the sea, an enigma — a captive stretched to the limit of his endurance by a woman intent on using him for the purest evil. And when survival requires he and Kitala form a closer partnership than either has ever known, the price of their bond will threaten not just their lives, but the essence of their very souls.