Title: A Kingdom of Ruin
Author: K.F. Breene
Genre: Fantasy, Romance
What's It About: Finley sits in the boat and makes it to the shore of the demon castle, with Jedrek in tow. Dolion tells the demons to put them both in the dungeons until further notice, so she is lead by a demon named Govam towards the dungeon. During the walk, she goes through a bridge with Govam's help because there is magic on the bridge that terrifies her, and in a split moment she almost makes the decision to kill him but then refrains. Govam puts her into the dungeon with the others, but in her own cell. En route to dropping her off in the cell, some of the demons ask Govam if they should take the sword out, but he says to leave it per Dolion's orders--after all, Finley does not know how to use the sword. Not too long after her arrival, they try to strip her of the bond, but Finley fights back while she gets whipped.
In the meantime, Hadriel tries to get Nyfain moving to fulfill his end of the bargain--getting Nyfain to draw out the animals of the villagers--so that when Finley comes back, they are ready to fight. Nyfain, however, feels Finley's pain through the bond between them, and does not know how to comfort her or himself over it. It is Leala--her lady's maid--that tells him that he should send her pleasurable feelings through the bond as that will lessen the pain for her. He likes the idea and starts doing it for Finley, while he and Hadriel go around to help bring out the animals.
Back in the dungeons, Finley continues to get whipped and hurt, thrown back into the cell after that. But the pleasure from Nyfain goes a long way to helping her. One night, the doors of the cell open, and some of the other individuals who had been talking to her, come out to her to figure out what she's all about. One of the ladies--Tamara--knows the sword and accuses Finley of stealing it. Finley tells them the story, and shows the mark, which gets them to at least believe her. She finds out that Tamara and some of the others are from Wyvern--her kingdom. Then she sees everlass in one of the cells belonging to Micah, the alpha dragon in the cells.
There is a party to which these dragons are taken, and she is placed in the cage next to Micah, who kills a few demons. There are some bids on all the individuals the golden cages, but no one bids on her because of her smell. They are then returned to their dungeons, but not before one of the wolves tells Finley that one of the fairies wants to speak with her. Another month passes by with no change.
In that time, Hadriel had spent enough of his time with Nyfain that he was able to figure out the locations of the portals that the demons send their creations through to Nyfain. He also convinced Nyfain to give Finley three months to figure out a way to break out because Nyfain cannot handle her pain any longer and wants to give himself over to Dolion in exchange for Finley. Hadriel then he decides to go try to save Finley anyway. With Hannon and Leala, Hadriel enters the demon world, and is brought to the dungeon dressed in a ridiculous outfit as a maid. He tells her that he's here to help her when he sees her, but the demons take him away to a different floor. Between him and Leala, they manage to corrupt the demons into kinky sex, making it easier for them to network.
When there is another party and all of the demons are doing something king, Dolion blames Finley for the corruption, but she shows nothing. Then Hadriel tells her that he's going to have someone bid on her so that she can meet with Calia, the fairy. They make that happen, and the two women meet, along with the wolf--Weston. That is when they talk about what can be done to break out of the cells, and Calia does mention that she can break the spell on their dungeon to get them out but they need to find a way out. The wolves know how to get around the castle, but they weren't able to get out the last time. Finley also learns that they have to wait for the lull in activity--there's a period of time where the Demon's magic is weakened from all of their creations, that they are not able to do anything. She grows the crowded everlass in her and Hannon's cell in the meantime.
Govam escorts Finley out of her cell one night--the night of the Demon magic blackout-because Dolion wants to see her. As they're getting her ready to go, Denski (another demon) comes in and tells him that Dolion has visitors and so Govam asks him to escort Finley back down to the cells. As they head down the stairs to the dungeon, Finley and Denski find a lot of the officers dead--she had put in a crowded everlass into the pot with the drinks on her way up with Govam, and it worked quickly. Denski shrugged, and then puts her back into her cell but does not engage the magical lock on the dungeon.
The dragons in the dungeon, along with Hannon and Jedrek, leave the dungeon and eventually meet with Weston and his pack, Calia and her sister, and Hadriel and Leala. They make their ways through the halls until they come across Govam, Denski and some other demons. Govam tells them that they have been trying to find a way to escape and bring Dolion down for years, because he is insufferable, but they couldn't do it. He can provide the necessary information to man the boats on the docks that need the demon magic. Finley accepts him into the fold and the group makes it across the Bridge of Doom as they call it, with only one loss-Jedrek-who could not cross even in his animal form without fear and ended up being thrown over the bridge for trying to drag someone else with him in his fear.
The demon boats made their way to the Red Lupine Kingdom, and the different groups split to go to their homes to find assistance for Finley to take with her to Wyvern Kingdom. Hannon, Hadriel, Leala, Finley and the demons go with Micah to their dragon village. There, she explores for a bit and gets to know Ami and her friend,Claudille, who are the town's herbalists/healers, for their work with the everlass. She quickly befriends them and shows that she is just as if not more knowledgeable that Ami and her friend, while they also train her to fly in her dragon form. As they spend some time to try to get the necessary help, Finley feels that Nyfain is falling into despair, and knows that something is to happen. She marches into a council meeting with Micah and tells them that they don't have time to wait around and sit to debate, but that she's leaving tomorrow whether he wants it or not because there's a fight happening.
She and her group leave the following morning and Micah comes along with a few other dragons, including Ami. They make it to the port, but no one wants to deal with the Dragons, though Weston was able to secure some boats, and helps them secure the boats for the dragons. Calia arrives just in time, and all of them head over to Wyvern. The plan is that Calia and her sister will take down the magic around Wyvern, while the dragons and wolves make their way into the kingdom to fight. The demons will stay behind in case they get mistaken for enemies.
Nyfain is close enough to making the deal with Dolion to give himself over in exchange for freeing the kingdom from the curse, when Finley's dragon arrives. Chaos ensues, and they fight the demons but Dolion escapes. Hadriel, who helps Hannon find his sister in the everlass, sees and Azure dragon and recognizes it. Nyfain goes around checking on the people, instead of going to Finley because he is afraid that she is stuck with a monster--he does not have wings. Finley in the meantime checks on her elixirs, adding in things that Claudille takes offense to. As she is leaving to speak to Nyfain and break the curse, Micah intercepts her and tells her that would fight for her in order for him to claim her as his. As she's about to answer him, he is ripped away from her by Nyfain.
And so the two fight. At first Micah stays up in the sky, making it hard for earth-bound Nyfain do reach him, but Finley's dragon rises up in the air and pounds into the earth, roaring. The other dragons drop down to the earth gracefully, before dropping down with a thud. All of them do it, while Micah continues to circle, and Finley continues to give Nyfain power. Nyfain then snatches Micah out of the air, takes him down, but does not kill him, realizing that he needs Micah. He then sweeps Finley off her feet, carries her to the castle.
He cleans them up and tells her that he cannot believe that she's back; that he shouldn't let her stay, but he loves her too much to let her go. They make love, and after wrestling with him, using her will, Finley also claims him by marking him; however, they do not imprint. Nyfain tells her that it's because he doesn't love himself, and he is finding it hard to see how someone else can, so he's struggling to feel like he's not giving Finley everything that he believes she deserves. It breaks her heart to hear that and Finley gives him a speech about how she's chosen him, which mellows him out. He warns her that if they imprint, there will be a heat and she will want to be bred, after which a child will result. Finley tells him that her dragon is very pushy about it and so she is ready. They have sex again, finally imprinting, and the curse is broken. Finley wonders about his scales on the shoulders, but they are interrupted by Hadriel before she can check. Nyfain and Finley hear Hadriel and Leala talk about how to call Nyfain, and then Hadriel enters, only to be told by Nyfain to get out. Hadriel stands his ground and tells him that Nyfain may want to come with him, no--he has to, and when Nyfain does not wish to budge, Hadriel tells him that his mother, the Queen is alive. Nyfain tells him that he doesn't appreciate that kind of joke, and that his father buried her with grief that could not be faked. Hadriel isn't sure what to say except that it was closed casket, and reiterates that he saw the Queen with his own eyes and that others had bowed down to her.
Nyfain and Finley get taken by Hadriel to the Queen out front of the castle, who is none other than Ami. Finley is angry because they never once revealed who they were in all their time training her. Nyfain is angry because he doesn't understand how it's possible that she is alive. What was her role in the curse?
My Thoughts: Yay! Finley made it back to Nyfain and is a badass dragon. She is his biggest supporter and is helping him find self-love again. I just love their relationship with each other and I really enjoyed the latter part of the book--the first part was a little dark because of all the dungeon and demons stuff, but I did find it still interesting in the character building department. Specifically, it got Finley the loyalty of the dragons, and also the fairies and the wolves. It shows how she's able to work with all of the animals.
This is a great third book of the series, and I cannot wait to see what the fourth and final one brings. There will definitely be more battling in the books, but does Nyfain have his wings? Will Finley get pregnant by going through the heat? What is Ami's role in all of this and how will (if at all) Nyfain reconcile with her? Cannot wait to see what it brings.
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