Retro-view: Wicked Deeds on a Winter’s Night

by Kresley Cole

Her breathless kiss haunts him. Bowen MacRieve of the Lykae clan was nearly destroyed when he lost the one woman meant for him. The ruthless warrior grew even colder, never taking another to his bed—until a smoldering encounter with his enemy, Mariketa the Awaited, reawakens his darkest desires. When sinister forces unite against her, the Highlander finds himself using all his strength and skill to keep her alive. His slow, hot touch is irresistible. Temporarily stripped of her powers, Mari is forced to take refuge with her sworn adversary. It’s rumored that no one can tempt Bowen’s hardened heart, but soon passion burns between them. Though a future together is impossible, she fears he has no intention of letting her go. No deed is too wicked for her seduction. If they defeat the evil that surrounds them, can Mari deny Bowen when he demands her body and soul—or will she risk everything for her fierce protector?

Well, MacRieve is coming out today so, here’s another retroview of the awesome Immortals After Dark Series. Wicked Deeds on a Winter’s Night is about the hero of MacRieve’s cousin Bowen. And Witches. And The Hie. It’s about a lot of things really.

We start the book with on the third day of the Hie. Bowen MacRieve is charmingly ‘heroin-chic’ because he has spent the last hundred and fifty years searching for a way to bring his Mate back from the dead.

The witches of the Lore are immortal and work as mercenaries. They found that money and power helped them as one of the physically weakest species to stay alive. They belong to one or more castes of witchcraft of the five castes, on rare occasions three. They have a special power source differing in each witch and they don’t have the same eye colour when angered.

Mariketa the Awaited is an unprecedented five caste witch, whose power comes from adrenaline. She was prophesied to do great things and one day have a powerful Lore male try to take her from the witches. Mari feels like a failure because when her spells work they tend to blow up in her face, literally.

The story begins when Bowen kisses Mari despite his desire to stay true to Mariah. Partly for his quest to win the Hie, and partly because he feels bad about betraying his Mate Bowen traps Mari, Rydstrom and Cadeon the Rage Demon King and his heir, Tera the Fey, her brother Tiernan and Hild of the Noble Fey in the Mayan tomb. Unfortunately for Bowen and the trapped ones, none of them can escape, also Bowen lost the Hie.

Because the trapped characters include the witches’ heir apparent, the Rage Demons’ King and heir as well as several famous noble fey, Bowen and the Lykae by extension are in major trouble with these factions and their allies. Oh, and for Bowen, Mari cursed him with mortality, so in the last month he was both aging and dying from his injuries in the Hie, including a lost hand.

When Bowen goes to get them, the surrounding areas have blown into a gang war, since Mari isn’t immortal yet he has to take them out the long way. There’s only a week for him to get them back to phone range to avert war. Bowen feels drawn to Mari but he’s spent a lot of time trying to get his Mate Mariah back.

**Spoiler alert**

Bowen and Mari do come together as they travel back to civilisation. However Bowen’s confliction over Mariah and Mari trigger a sore point for Mari, how she feels that she’s always second best to everyone. She feels that her parents had priorities over her and even her first boyfriend wanted other people over her. Bowen also has to get over his instinctive and taught hatred of witches.

Turns out that Mariah was not Bowen’s Mate. Mariah got a spell from Häxa, an evil enchantress/witch goddess which tricked him into thinking Mariah was his Mate to feed off his misery. Mari was Awaited to defeat Häxa, but defeating Häxa gives Mari her power, and traps her.

Bowen is such a marshmallow. Once he gets over his distrust of witches he absolutely commits like nobody ever committed to anybody ever before. Mari is such a strong character as well. Despite being so young as to not actually have become frozen in her immortality yet she’s fully invested in the Hie and living it all to the fullest.

IAD series retroviews: A Hunger Like No Other, The Warlord Wants Forever, No Rest For The Wicked.

Currently Listening: Freakshow – Reece Mastin