Review: Keeper of the Flame, A Review for the Blog Tea and Book
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 28, 2013
YAY! Bianc D'Arc has come back to the Dragons!! In a sensual game of espionage, passion, a political coup and shapeshifting characters Ms D'Arc delights once again. Keeper of the Flame is the seventh book in her Dragon Knights Series, each more wonderful than the last!!Draconia is fighting for the world's survival. Slowly they have been gathering allies, determined to keep those that want to control the world (or their small part in it)  for their own purposes, usually evil ones.. To gather information it was decided that Prince Hugh be sent to gather information on the land of Helios. Hugh is so not the likely choice being that he is the largest of the royal brothers. Makes it rather hard to be inconspicuous  but the Seers claim he would be the best choice.tHugh, Prince of Draconia is third in line for the thrown and has absolutely no desire to rule. He is a warrior through and through.. More than a bit confused as to why he has been chosen to gather information, he still willing goes to Helios. The needs of his family and country always come first. No sooner had he set foot in the country when the storms hit, making the world a rather miserable place to be when not indoors. Yet, he must be out to gather the information he needs. Walking in the frigid downpour, he senses someone following him. Not too worried because he does not discern danger but still one can not be too careful. Finally catching up with the individual who is following him, he finds a baby gryphon, A Gryphlet. Cast out of the nest because she was born different, the baby is cold, hungry and emotionally struggling and Hugh being the kind of man who understands that all creatures are equal, takes her in. Beginning the true love story in this book. Seriously, I completely and totally fell in love with young Miss (short for the slang misborn).Hugh manages to get Miss back to the Inn where he is staying and finds allies who help him care for and hide the darling.. yet these are locals and they understand their responsibility to country and they send for a mysterious woman.Valeria, Queen of Helios, Keeper of the Flame, comes to the small tavern to gather some information of her own. She needs to find out if this new gryphlet is safe and to offer her sanctuary in the palace. No sooner had she begin to settle into conversation with Hugh, when they were told that assassins  were close and looking for her. With no other way to go, she is forced to put her life into the hands of this strange man.. Imagine her surprise when he shifts to a dragon and flies the three of them to safety.As they search for a place to land, they discover that all is not as it seems at the palace so they go into hiding  Betrayed by family, they are not sure who they can trust and who they can't so they decide to trust only each other.. and slowly decide on who else they should trust with their very lives.This book is a little bit different from the other Dragon Knights books. This is more a sensual delight than the erotic sexuality found in the other books in this series. These two do a dance of desire that slowly ignites.. A wonderful slip into sensuality. It also had a cast of characters that were more or less new to the story. We see a few of our favorites but Hugh has never been seen in the previous books and the twins that we get to chat with are not the twins from Dragon Storm. It is fun to see the rest of the family get some action..I seriously enjoyed this book and am thrilled to see that Ms D'Arc had chosen to continue it. There is so much going on, so many exciting subplots and so many more stories to tell.. An excellent book and series that must be explored.. but I will warn you, this series in general is extremely erotic and has some very interesting scenes that steam up the pages.Shauni