Guardsman Black Ilex Winterberry has been aware of his Heartmate since they connected during her second passage. She knows nothing of him and it will stay that way if Ilex has his way. Ilex has been seeing visions of his own death for years and refuses to bond with a Heartmate only to die shortly after and take her with him. When a series of vicious murders rocks the city, Ilex moves to the same building as his Heartmate to watch over her and keep her out of harm's way, but he has every good intention of keeping distance between them. Well, you know what they say about good intentions.

Trif Clover is young, irrepressible and optimistic. Trif starts a search for her Heartmate with all the enthusiasm of her youth. She has a charm key fashioned and literally goes door to door searching for her man. Instead, she continually runs into Guardsman Winterberry, who briskly sends her home whenever he finds her and her key touring the city. What's up with that anyway? Sure, he's her neighbor and friend and a guardsman, but the annoying man pops up, literally, every time she leaves the house. Then Trif makes a visit to a matchmaker who informs her that her Heartmate knows who she is, but keeps apart from her for reasons known only to himself. Stunned but undaunted, Trif renews her effort to track down her intended and force, eh... bring him to his senses. But while Trif is tracking down her intended lover, Ilex is tracking down a coven of killers with black magic on their minds. And now the killers are focused on Trif.

Celta is a fascinating world, but it's the people and their fams (sentient pets) who keep readers coming back for more. There are many fantasy worlds to choose from these days and a lot of them drawn in more detail. Heck, a lot of them make more sense than Celta does most of the time, but Owens cares about these people and their pets and passes her love for them on to her readers. And you just know this woman has cats, she knows them way too well. Caring about characters and their relationships as much as the world they live in or the "special effects," that's what we don't get enough of. Owens is a writer who can make you feel sorry for a house (I love that turquoise house...I want things to turn out okay for it). Her legions of fans will snap this one up and then whine, "But what about the others?" In the words of Greyku, "We want more!"