I read my first Nolan book over a year ago, and had thought to delve deeper into her Mirus world quite a bit sooner… As they say, life got in the way. Last night, I was overnighting in a hotel, avoiding the blizzard conditions outside, awaiting the second day of a work-mandated training. Since I was sharing a room with a colleague, and wasn’t yet tired enough to sleep after we turned out the lights, I unearthed this short story.
Here’s the blurb:
Isla’s ability as a Seer has made her a life-long captive of a paranormal crime lord. Fae assassin, Ransom, offers her a chance at escape, but when she touches his hand she sees only blood, horror, apocalypse. What reason can Ransom have for wanting to rescue her, and can she possibly trust a man who deals in death?
It wasn’t what I expected, even though the blurb told me to expect blood, horror, and apocalypse. The opening scene was enough to almost gag a reader on smoke and gore; somehow, though Red had its graphic scene, I hadn’t expected the level of violence running through this story.
And yet. The characters are fully drawn and have realistic motivations and interactions:
It was on the tip of his tongue to ask why, but this was what she did, how she operated. Maybe she needed to see their chances for success. He placed his hand in hers for the second time that evening, marveling at how small and delicate hers was. Soft hands. Not the hands of a warrior. She laid her other hand over his and her eyes faded to white as the vision took her. The hands around his heated almost to burning, but he did not pull away.
She was frowning when her eyes turned blue again.
“What did you see?” he demanded.
“Enough,” she said simply. “Let me change.”
She was quick about it, emerging in minutes from the walk-in closet, clad in some kind of stretchy black pants and a form-fitting t-shirt, also dark. Ransom approved. She would be able to move in the outfit. After donning her shoes, she grabbed a hoodie, then hesitated. “Will I need this where we’re going?”
In the end, though I spent the night dreaming crazy scenes, the story sucked me in and didn’t let go. I was awake even later, wondering about details of a world where psychics, fae, and werewolves operated like the darkest underbelly of any crime syndicate. I am absolutely anticipating good things whenever Nolan releases Revelation.
In the meantime, for those on the same, tight, Christmas budget as I am, this is free for who knows how much longer, and paints yet another unique and intriguing supernatural world. For those who enjoy short stories, and those who are looking for the scheming of evil overlords and rebellious factions, this should be right up your alley, regardless of price.