Yasmine Galenorn – Courting Darkness

The tenth book in the Otherworld / Sisters of the Moon series, published November 1, 2011.



We're the D'Artigo sisters: sexy, savvy ex-operatives for the Otherworld Intelligence Agency. But being half-human, half-Fae means our powers go haywire at all the wrong times. My sister Delilah is a Death Maiden and werecat who belongs to the Autumn Lord. My sister Menolly is a vampire who's dating a gorgeous werepuma, and the godfather of the undead-set. And me? I'm Camille, Priestess of the Moon Mother, married to a dragon, a youkai, and a Svartan. But my dragon father-in-law has decided that he doesn't like having me for a member of the family...

It's Winter Solstice, and Aeval welcomes me into her Court of Darkness. With Morio still dangerously weak from his injuries and Vanzir alive only thanks to my silence, the thought of training under Morgaine doesn't seem as daunting as it did. But then, Hyto returns to shatter my life. Captured and swept off to the Dragon Reaches, can I manage to stay alive long enough to escape, even as Smoky's father intends to break my spirit, then my body?


This story continues right where the anthology Ice Shards ended. Camille, Smoky, Iris and the others have just returned from the icy Northlands, and Camille is looking forward to some rest and warmth and to seeing Morio and Trillian again, her other two husbands. But the moment they arrive at the house, Delilah comes charging out, telling her they need to get to the Wayfarer, Menolly’s bar for supe’s, there is someone there with a message for Camille, causing trouble. So there is no choice but to get back in the cars and head out.
The message contains a warning that Hyto, Smoky’s father, is after her. And after that, they get a call from Chase to come out to Tangleroot State Park, where a rogue Portal has appeared. He is scared of it, something is different from the portals he knows.
Camille and friends also don’t know what to make of it, though Camille senses very powerful Fay magic is behind it, waiting. And then Chase is sucked into the portal, and none of them can safe him. They don’t dare follow him, with no idea of where they will end up. So, no matter how tired Camille is, she and Delilah will have to go to Queen Aeval’s court and ask for help. Chase means a lot to them all, not only because he was Delilah’s first real love. He has become family, like a brother, to all of them. And having drunk from the Elixer of Life, there is no way to predict what he will become.

Aeval agrees to help them out, and comes to the portal with them, but when Aeval sense what is behind the portal, she is afraid. She will not go with them through it, but if they want Chase back, they will have to. So the next day Aeval will force the portal open for them. It is not an easy journey for Camille and Delilah, and they encounter some extremely powerful beings, one of them Herne, Lord of the Hunt. They barely manage to escape to the portal.
Back home, Camille is dead on her feet, and really needs to sleep, but first she and her three husbands engage in some great lovemaking.
The next day, Camille decides she has to confess about what happened in the previous book, knowing Smoky will get crazy with anger about it, so she sends Vanzir away from the house first. And yes, he does, and even wants her out of his sight for now. Which is not a good thing, as Camille gets kidnapped by Hyto.

Hyto takes her to his hidden lair in the Northland, where he abuses and rapes Camille. She has no choice but to obey if she wants to stay alive, knowing he will take his revenge on her family and friends if she escapes.


A lot of things happen in this book, I’ve only told a bit about the first part of the book. Once again Camille is the focus of this book, as each of the sisters tells her own story in the next books. I really like Camille, I love how she dresses, and is a priestess of the Moon Goddess. I only wish Yasmine Galenorn would give some more details about what that entails, perhaps some rituals or something. Camille is half Fae, half human, and a witch. Only her magic backfires a lot, unless she is practicing death magic with Morio, her third husband. She is getting more powerful, and I love her courage.
She survived Hyto, and although the scars are there, both mentally as physically, she will overcome them and enjoy life and love with her three husbands.

Camille also finds out more about her husband Smoky, a half white and half silver dragon. His father is a white dragon, his mother a silver dragon, and of the highest class in dragon society. His father got all the bad genetics of the white dragons, which is the reason he was kicked out of dragon society. He blames Camille for that, and wants to kill his son for marrying her.

The overall plotline of finding the Spirit Seals and fighting Shadow Wing is just a bit in the background in this book, but I am sure it will pick up in the next one.


This certainly is one of the best series I am reading. Yasmine Galenorn proves time and again why she is on my autobuy list. I love her writing style, her characters are so alive to me. When she describes something, like the scenery, it is so vivid, I can picture it before me, wanting to see it with my own eyes. I love all the different characters she creates, the different paranormal beings, how she incorporates elemental beings and mythical beings into her stories. Once the danger the D’Artigo sisters and their friends and allies are fighting, is over, I want to go and live there myself.

10 stars.