Pretender's Fate

by Dirk Hessian

* BarbarianSpy rough gay sex, domination and control, limited violence in context.*Born a by-blow of the legendary future early fourteenth-century Scottish king, Robert deBruce, William Howard is raised at the English court and only learns of his true parentage after he comes of age and returns “home.” He discovers that Sir Thomas Howard, who William has thought was his real father, acknowledges him only to have an heir and does not treat him as his son.From this point forward William becomes a pawn in linked wars of the Scottish succession and English suppression in the border lands of England and Scotland. Controlled and used by men for their own advantage from the English king to his own purported father to ambitious knights of the castle and a flamboyant bigger-than-life bloodthirsty Scottish warrior, William must learn to be clever and to use the power- and sexual lusts of other men himself to survive. Behind the scenes is a mysterious protector who helps guide William through his personal and national-scene labyrinth, but will this support be sufficient for William’s needs? stronger men of the Roxburgh Castle garrison were circling in the hall, moving their eyes from William Howard, sitting at high table, to each other. Most had hands gripping the hilts of their sheath knives. Each was waiting for someone else to make a move while scheming when would be the most advantageous time for them to make their own move.Guy deClerq had been missing for three days. Some said he had been murdered and was even now moldering at the bottom of some dry cistern cut into the rock below the castle. Others were saying that he had deserted to the Scottish army investing the castle walls. Still others said that he was merely waiting in hiding somewhere and watching what others would do if they sensed the power vacuum of his absence—that he was trying to ferret out the most daring of those who would replace him in William’s bed and thus in control of the castle. It was only the possibility that the last of these explanations might be true that had kept the would-be supplanters of deClerq from taking action. And the longer deClerq was missing the more daring the stronger of the knights in the hall were becoming.William sat at the high table on this night of Summer Solstice, 1314, trying to show calm and control. But he was as worried and wary as any of the others in the hall. He had no idea where Guy had gone—or why. But he knew what none of the others did—that Guy had taken his sword and armor with him. That tended to negate a silent assassination in a deserted hallway of the castle and tended to favor, William feared, a defection to the Scots.Without revealing as best he could that he was doing it, William was eyeing the various knights in the hall who were circling around him and each other. If he himself did not make a move soon to select a successor to deClerq himself—and was not wise in his choice of a man who could cow all takers immediately upon being designated—the decision would be taken out of his hands.Which was the strongest and the best endowed? he was thinking. What was the balance of someone who could face off the rest but who also could fill and make him shudder in bed?

Genres: M M Romance

71 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 22, 2012

About the author

Dirk Hessian is the short M/M historial novella alter ego of author habu.

Reviews

[BlackTulip]

This isn't a review but just an explanation as why I stopped reading this book half way through and why I will not continue it.

I don't consider myself narrow minded or intolerant but I have nonetheless moral boundaries and incest isn't something I can stomach whatever the circumstances . At this point, I think my brain wasn't able to process anything anymore.

I think morality is a very subjective notion and I'm not being judgmental here, only frank and honest.

In a way, it's also my fault because I didn't pay attention to the tags when I purchased the book because if I had I wouldn't have bought it. (and it's definitely specified, I checked afterwards)

I won't rate the book.

[Elizabetta · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5 stars

I’m such a men-in-kilts whore. But not even a man in a kilt flashing his tasty bits can save this one. Lots of names and castles to keep straight, awkward writing, perfunctory sex, pseudo-incest, and it’s just, meh. And way overpriced, very underwhelming. (rounded up for the kilts)