The tale only gets darker from here. While Victoria and Raphael obviously share an attraction, and Raphael is quite gallant in his actions including marrying her to protect her, he is still swayed by his brother's ugly words and innuendoes. It's a bit odd and decidedly arrogant on Raphael's part when he decides to finish off his honeymoon by taking them back to his twin's estate in Cornwall - thus putting his wife back into immediate danger with his evil brother, as well as so that he can track down a satanic cult who's been gang-raping adolescent virgins in the nearby area. The rape scenes, which have been in every one of this series, are distasteful as expected. Coulter's captures the dark tale well, with tight dialogue and a fast moving plot, and her characters have dimension and consistency. Even when the evil Baron tries to impersonate his brother, his dialogue is consistent enough that you can subtly tell that he is not the same character. However, it's difficult to get over the danger in which the hero puts the heroine he loves, leading the reader to wonder what could he possibly have been thinking?