WICKED GAMES is a collection of short stories. The longest
is The Once and Future Lover, a great nod to one of many
Arthurian legend fans' favorite book by T.H. White. This
prequel novella to Knight's Mageverse books tells how the
Mageverse began. Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table
were made vampires able to change into wolves, and
Guinevere and her women made witches by being from another
world in order to protect humanity. Merlin and Nimue offer
those who pass a challenge proving themselves worthy a
drink from a chalice that turns each immortal. "By
drinking from my Grail, the men will become Magi, gaining
physical speed and strength far beyond mortal abilities,
while the women will become Majae, with magical abilities
like those Nimue and I have." For the men, feeding on
blood is intertwined with the need for sex, creating a
bloodthirst with massive sexual desire.
Arthur is warned that he should remain close after
Guinevere is turned, but in his hubris, he leaves to hunt
down Mordred. While Arthur is gone, Lancelot is turned
immortal. Guinevere enters just-awakened Lancelot's room
to feed him her blood, and the two, overcome by their new-
onset need for blood and sex, have intercourse. Guinevere
panics and changes Lancelot's memories so that King Arthur
in his anger is not deprived of his champion, shifting all
the blame to her shoulders for their mutual sin. It was
lovely to see Gwen presented as trying to do the best thing
for Arthur here, making her a much more sympathetic
character than she is typically presented.
I've always hated the love triangle of Arthur, Guinevere,
and Lancelot. The pain and anguish the three suffered is
so difficult to read, but I love the Arthurian legends so
much that I devour all the books I can find about the
subject. This was an interesting twist on the Arthurian
legend, however, with vampires and witches, and then
Knight's signature erotic component added in. In Arthur's
anguish at their betrayal, he punishes Guinevere in many
inventive sexual ways. There are many very spicy scenes
with graphic language, anal sex, and BDSM. It was
disconcerting to me to have these elements added to
Arthurian tale, but for those not wedded to the classical
telling of this legend, it may be intriguing to you. The
story ends with forgiveness and love, which is very
satisfying.
One of the other short stories is Bondage, Beauty and the
Beast which adds a Dominant/submissive twist to the
retelling of the traditional fairy tale. It includes
enchanted sex toys, whipping, gags and other restraints,
and sex with multiple partners. Definitely an unusual
twist on the beauty/beast theme! The last very short story
is of a Confederate spy caught by a Yankee major in A
Question of Pleasure, who is sexually tormented instead of
physically tortured in an attempt to find out who her
spymaster is.
Those looking for a quick tale with kink
will find what they are searching for in WICKED GAMES.
Wicked is right! A collection of magically sexy novellas from the New York Times bestselling author—including an all-new Mageverse novella.
A prequel novella to the bestselling Mageverse series that gave a sexy twist to the Arthurian legend headlines this collection. This volume also features a special selection of stories, previously published as ebooks, but completely revised and expanded for this anthology.
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