I think it’s easy to see acts of courage when there’s a battle raging all around. It’s easy to see when the villain is obvious and engaged in evil. Our hero and heroine show their courage when they fight that evil either physically, psychically or perhaps with magic. But, there’s another kind of courage and strength that is often overlooked and that’s the courage of emotion.

If you think about it, being brave in light of overwhelming vulnerability can be the hardest fight of all. The scars can be the deepest. Losing an emotional battle can change you just as a physical fight can.






There’s a quiet strength to both Ferro and Elisabeta in Dark Song. Hers is perhaps more obvious. She’s fighting years and years of abuse. Years of being told she’s worth nothing. Years of head games and horror. Now, she’s escaped and every day, every decision she makes for herself, is an act of courage. Sometimes the greatest courage is not giving up. And smoldering beneath that vulnerability and fear is a quiet strength few see. But before it’s all over, her courage will surprise them all.

For Ferro his quiet strength is even more subdued. He’s a fierce warrior and even the other ancients fear him. He has a reputation from centuries of fighting. So, when his lifemate needs him as her shield he becomes that without fanfare. Without thought. He simply becomes what she needs regardless of how that makes him appear outwardly to the others.


As a couple their strength is in their patience with each other. And later, when everything falls apart, it is in the total trust they must give each other in order to survive.