When Prince Duncan Caldwell has to enter Cecilia Hurst’s Game of Masters and Slaves, he already knows he’ll have to play Master if he intends to retrieve the pyramid Cecilia stole from the sacred Nephis Valley. And his choice for a slave can only be Ylianor Meyer, however fiercely Lord Christopher Templeton resents her and her overpowering erotic intrusion in a trip that should’ve been his and Duncan’s alone. No, make that in a love that should’ve been his and Duncan’s alone!
That’s just the beginning of Book 2 of the Virtus Saga, where nothing is as it seems, not since soul mates Prince Duncan Caldwell and Lord Christopher Templeton share a love that is unrivaled until a fateful knock on Ylianor Meyer’s dilapidated shack changes everything forever. This book picks up right where Book 1, The Sex, leaves off and explodes it all— the lust and the leadership, but also the estrangement and the chaos. Mostly the unique connection laced with a jealousy and violence that are unknown to their world. Because this isn’t just another erotic dark fantasy series. This is the making of a trio. Of three remarkable characters that have to overcome their uncontrollable lust to face the truth about themselves and their planet, in order to defeat the darkness about to devour them. To be as one whilst three! That’s their real challenge. Because, if they can’t learn to share power and love in equal measures, how will they be able to ensure their world’s survival?
All About the Virtus Saga
Erotic Dark Fantasy Paranormal Romance Series that Explores the Dark and Light Sides of Power and Love between Three People
“Eroticism off the charts!” The Romance Reviews (TRR) – Because “US IS SEX!” The Lord Book 8
The Making of a Trio: the Virtus Saga shows how power and love can be equally shared.
Now completed, Laura Tolomei's erotic dark fantasy series is continuing to receive critical acclaims. The concept of a world free of violence attracts readers. The fiery MM and MMF sex keeps them hooked to every page. The titles say it all. Book 1 The Sex, Book 2 The Game, Book 3 The Festival, Book 4 The Leader, Book 5 The Pledge, Book 6 The Heat, Book 7 The Princess and Book 8 The Lord—they all drip passion and lust woven inside an imaginary frame ruled by magical powers, divided between good and evil and struggling to survive.
The way it all starts and progresses, nothing is as it seems. Soul-mates Prince Duncan Caldwell and Lord Christopher Templeton share a love that is unrivaled, until Duncan takes shelter in Ylianor Meyer's dilapidated shack. Ylianor has always loved Duncan, and while Duncan is attracted to her, she remains a servant—okay to bed, but not acceptable consort material. Unwilling to accept it, Ylianor vows she will do anything, even come head to head with his insufferable lover, to stay at his side.
But there is more going on than either of the three realize. Lord Arthur Fairchild, Leader of the High Council, knows his planet Sendar is doomed unless the predestined Hero steps in and blocks the darkness threatening to take over. And even if one person alone fits the bill, Arthur does the unthinkable—not only does he summon the Hero, but the Hero's consorts as well. Sendar needs these three special people to become fully aware of their powers and learn how to use them together. Sendar needs these three special people to work together above and beyond their personal issues. Sendar needs these three special people to become one whilst being three to make it through the difficult times ahead. If they do not, the Virtus which holds all of Sendar's secrets could destroy them all.
Excerpt
“Who is Cecilia Hurst?” And why don’t I give a damn about her, only about Prince Duncan Caldwell and his phase mate, Lord Christopher Templeton?
Oh, fuck!
If she could just concentrate on piecing together the sketchy information gathered at the Nephis Valley and find the stolen heart, she would be the happiest woman alive. Instead, Ylianor Meyer’s attention kept shifting on the two gorgeous men riding by her side, which made it unproductive to focus on anything besides the scorching memories of their stay in the pledge’s sacred valley and their consequent hurried escape from it.
If it had been a spell, which she hoped it had not, it could not have happened with two more breathtaking creatures than the one she had loved all her life, and the one she was coming to appreciate after weeks spent traveling together.
Under her eyelashes, she stole a peak at her prince. Slightly older than his shiny blond phase mate, the very masculine Duncan Caldwell had raven black hair, falling down to his shoulders, dancing black eyes, a chiseled face with a square jaw over a tall, powerful, well-built frame with muscles rippling at every movement. Yes, he was impossibly gorgeous and impossibly taken, too, given how much he loved the very striking and very smug Lord Christopher Templeton.
Who was a real demon, no question about it, had been ever since he had walked into Black Rose with a load of rage and fury so great it would have annihilated anyone. Though not him, the eight-year-old boy that looked like an angel and had the core of a demon.
Goddamn him and his regular features with that aristocratic nose, the short thick hair flashing brighter than Stella’s rays and those intriguing blue-gray eyes she found hard to read at times. As if it were not enough, he was also tall, and his less muscular build spoke of a natural grace, elegance and sensuality that were impossible to resist. And goddamn him twice for having her fall all over him, as if she did not know he had despised her from the moment he had set eyes on her.
So there was no way around it.
Not just around his arresting appearance. Mostly around his preferences, since he was even more unreachable than the man whom he loved above and beyond his own life—Duncan Caldwell.
And to think that, however different they were, both had the same erotic charge, the undeniable allure to beguile men and women alike. Which made it all the stranger they would ever end up in the Nephis Valley, the place where couples tied their knot in order to have children. Hardly the place for two such attractive men and me in the middle to look for clues and end up in heated, passionate sex that still burns me all over simply remembering about it.
Then again, she would have never been there, had David Smith, Duncan’s supposedly faithful valet, not insisted that the prince take her along on his trip. He and his concern that Lady Sophia Caldwell might harm her had been her undoing. Or perhaps, it was all Duncan’s fault for believing David and his insinuations about how evil his mother could become.
Which was no fabrication, considering how much Ylianor had already suffered from the dreadful woman ever since she was born. And that there was no end to her cruelty had become kind of plain when she had thrown out little nine-year-old Ylianor from Black Rose, her native home, banning her from ever returning. Just her bad luck her son had found her again, in spite of all the impediments blocking their way during the ten years they had not seen each other, and brought her back to stay as Black Rose’s new stable keeper.
Or so Ylianor had hoped until David had got it into his head Sophia Caldwell might put her in serious danger and packed her off to follow the two stunning men, one of which would have gladly reduced her to cinders, rather than have her intrude in his alone time with his adored prince. And the fact they had an agenda to keep had not improved matters any.
Thing was—the High Council Leader, Arthur Fairchild, had summoned them to find the missing piece of the sacred valley’s symbolic structure. Not just Chris and Duncan. Ylianor, too, as it turned out for the Leader of the High Council had made it very clear the three of them were to work as one. Duncan as the leader and mind of this small group, Chris as the body and she was the spirit of it all. Hey, who would have ever imagined that?
Now she had a long sitting in front of the mysterious tower of three-sided pyramids to prove she belonged with them. Their bond sealed by the unexpected after-effects that had kept all of them chained to a bed for days on end, prey to unforeseeable sexual cravings that refused to let her go also now that she was miles away from the wretched place.
“The real question is—what was that all about?” Chris blurted.
No, the real question was—why could she not suppress the torrid images that had already started a furious throbbing between her legs?
“Wasn’t it clear enough, Angel?” Duncan grinned.
However mocking the tone, Ylianor could not help feeling stung by the prince’s sheer love for the blond, beautiful demon, knotted in the throaty endearment.
“At least now we know why pledges take place there.” The prince chuckled. “The way it influences people…” His grin widened as he gazed at Chris. “It would make it easy to commit to a woman, even for someone like you.”
“That was just madness,” the demon spat hotly. “A trick of the damn pyramid! Something that would never happen under regular circumstances.”
Yeah, sure, as if he could dismiss his odd reactions that easily, him, Christopher Templeton, who had never stooped as low as to touch a woman before in his life, except to stick his cock in her ass or mouth. Well, guess what?
He had not just sampled Ylianor all over using the most seductive stroking ever. He had also played with his fiery energy all over her body as if she were his beloved. Unreal to say the least, yet never in her life had she felt warmer and safer than inside the same flames that had tried to burn her alive just days before. One mere touch from him and her blood had raced. Her heart had thumped so loudly she was still giddy from his passionate kisses and fierce sex. Uh, how she had begged for more, yielding to his demands the way she had with her prince alone. And how she would do it again in a heartbeat, regardless of how much he hated her guts.
“Whatever the reason, I never thought I’d see my angel kiss a woman,” Prince Caldwell sniggered, his black eyes sparkling in amusement.
“Not funny, lover.” Chris turned red. “I was under a spell, remember?”
“Yes, I’ll be sure to mention that when I spoil your immaculate reputation at the Hall.” Duncan laughed out loud.
The Hall being the seat of the High Council, the highest ruling body of their lands, it was also where Chris had chosen to live after Duncan had ended their phase. Or to hide, depending on the point of view.
“You wouldn’t dare!” Chris hissed, his blue-gray eyes sending blazing darts in Duncan’s direction. “I’ll deny everything.”
“If you can.” Tightening his knees around Fuzeon, his black horse, the prince flanked Chris. “I’m not sure about what we did with that pyramid, but pledges are notorious at reproducing their own living side effects.”
Meaning that no pledge, no children, for no amount of sex between men and women ever produced any life.
“It couldn’t…” This time, Chris paled all together, his face draining of all blood as the implication of what Prince Caldwell said sank in. “We didn’t…” With an enquiring gaze, he spun to Ylianor, quickly imitated by Duncan.
“Hem…” Now it was her turn to redden under their scrutiny.” If the structure’s main purpose is to help couples have babies, it’s unlikely it works since it’s missing the heart.” Then catching their looks of relief, she was quick to add in a naughty tone, “Or so I think.”
“That’s what we hope, Princess.” Duncan’s tone confirmed he also was not looking for heirs, not at the moment anyway. “But if things should work out the more traditional way, you’ll have to do the honorable thing, Angel, since I can’t possibly pledge to her.”
“What?” Chris’s face turned even paler. “That’s ridiculous!” Licking his lips nervously, he narrowed an icy cold stare on Ylianor. “Are you pregnant?”
Now funny he should ask.
Among other things, Christopher Templeton was a healer, and that was just for starters. Like the rest of them, he had powers, or Virts as Arthur Fairchild had told them the ancients called it. And like her, Chris had discovered the ability to wield nature’s forces to his bidding from the earliest years possible. As far back as childhood, for he and Ylianor alone had been aware of what most adults knew nothing about or would learn only later in life.
That was why she was an aura tracer. Seeing people’s ethereal bodies in their million combinations of colored lights that shifted according to their moods was one of her specialties. And best of all, she had managed to awaken Prince Caldwell’s sleeping potential. Something not even his phase mate had been able to do, however overpowering he was.
So eat your heart out, Lord Templeton!
Now Duncan’s incredibly strong Virt coursed through his every fiber, more formidable than anything her world had seen, as confirmed by Arthur’s own words, a seemingly boundless pool of cool, deep and potent energy that had apparently laid dormant for the better part of his twenty-one years.
Then there was nineteen-year-old Chris. So very powerful, he was fire through and through, a pyre so strong it could disintegrate just as easily as heal, erasing the memory of it if necessary. Not that he was always so merciful. Not so cruel, either, as when he had decided to demonstrate his rare talents in front of the prince, no less.
While carving her to bits in the process.
Appalling, if not downright monstrous! Her people did not kill animals, not even to eat them. So you could just imagine how utterly shocking the sight of someone slashing live flesh could be. And getting a kick out of it, too!
No, had it come from any other person, she would not have thought it possible for the way of her people had never included any form of adult violence as far back as time itself, at least until Christopher Templeton had the bad idea to show his face around. Being the black hearted demon he was, Ylianor had not allowed the utter shock of it all get to her.
No, she had fought back, refusing to give in to his sadistic knife play, when not going as far as feeling a twisted sense of pleasure at some very particular incisions of his.
“It’s too early to tell.” An amused snarl curved Duncan’s lips.
“Not necessarily.” She shifted position on Starlet’s saddle. “Whoever is the father…” And she deliberately spun her gaze from one to the other to make sure they understood she included both. “Any offspring of yours would have so much Virt it couldn’t possibly hide its presence, even at an early stage.”
“Great.” Chris took a deep breath of relief. “This means there’s no foreseeable danger of—”
“But the first stages are always tricky,” Ylianor cut him off, pressing a palm over her flat belly. “And I’ve been feeling kind of queasy since we left the valley.”
“Hey, they might be the warning signs.” A dazzling smile split the prince’s handsome face.
And her heart stopped dead.
Literally.
Yes, she knew it. She was a fool simply to hold on to her love for him, given how his lights went crazy whenever around the horrible demon. For there was no way he could hide his deep feelings for his angel, not to her, not to her aura reading Virt. But to be fair, she had been there first. At a time Duncan had not even known Chris existed, she had fallen in love with him beyond any hope of recovery. Barely old enough to stand, she had allowed her dark handsome hero to chase her on Black Rose’s many hills, relishing the feel of being with him in the place that was his home, too. And he had always been there for her until something had gone terribly wrong and caused a ten-year separation.
All the demon’s fault for sure, what with the prince unexplainable forgetting all about her during the ten-year-estrangement. Too bad for him, his plan to become Prince Caldwell’s sole claimant had backfired in the most delicious way, and she had returned to be at Duncan’s side, stronger than ever.
More in love than ever, too, particularly now that sex had complicated everything, to the point she had not bothered hiding it from him. What would have been the point anyway?
Prince Caldwell would have sensed it eventually. Better to come clean about it, even if she had no guarantees things would change any time soon. He had told her as much at the Hall, admitting straight up he could not return her feelings. Still, he had not cut her out entirely, asking for more time instead. So, if time was the only obstacle in the way to her prince’s heart, she would give him as much as he needed, and Lord Christopher Templeton be damned.
“So who knows?” Duncan’s gaze dropped to her belly. “We might have to—”
Professional Reviews
Blackraven's Reviews rated it 4.5 Ravens
If you're looking for an action-packed, dangerous adventure with engaging characters who are complex, flawed, and at times lovable, a plot that thickens with suspense and angst with the turn of every page, and enough smoking hot sex scenes to keep your body in a state of arousal for days on end, then The Game by Laura Tolomei is definitely the book to read.
Romance at Heart
For the second novel, Laura Tolomei persuades the reader to look closely at the relationship between Duncan and Ylianor as it has a special significance and shows a meeting of both past and present. Christopher is the one in the middle in this volume, and does not like being there; after all he enjoys being centre stage doling out his quips, and jibes to anyone who will listen, though even he has to be watched, and as Duncan knows controlled as he can be loose cannon if left to his own devices. There is enough humor, interesting dialogue, and enjoyment to be had for the reader to want to see what happens next in the book.
Alternative Read (AR)
The continuing story of Prince Caldwell, his lover Chris Templeton, and the beautiful Ylianor Meyer of whom completes the trio are back again with their second Virtus Saga. And The Game is on. Incredible concept. Intriguing fantasy world. Ideas aplenty. This is a complex series of love and consequences and The Game was hot. There were lots of hints as the characters' excitement for the Festival (the next and third book) builds. What a great way to keep readers hooked and on the edge of their seats; dish it out in instalments, like a (fantasy) soap opera. In order to get the best out of this series, to see the full impact of the plot upon the players, I suggest reading the complete series. They are not written to be stand alone stories and they do lead direct from one book into the next. So far. Luckily the third book, The Festival, is already out now! Read at your peril in the hopes that the powers of Virt don't control you, too. Who knows what you'll get up to?
The Game is on. Incredible concept. Intriguing fantasy world. Ideas aplenty. This is a complex series of love and consequences and The Game was hot. What a great way to keep readers hooked and on the edge of their seats.
A handfull of survivors wash ashore from a ship wreck in a strange new world. Two centuries later their descendants have populated the Islands they found and are now striving to populate a mainland infested with trolls and dragons. Only some of the
