Twisted Iron Marks (Bitter Legacies Book 2) by Hailey Turner

The second entry in the Bitter Legacies series will have you hanging on the edge of your seat with anxiety. Otherworld is no place for the love Bran and Cillian have and they are both forced into darkness as they strive to remain together. 


From the blurb:

Tangled are the promises given from the heart.

When the Council of Witches demands Bran Gallagher cast aside his dying coven and join a new one, he flees to the Otherworld with the man he loves to escape his sentencing.

Cillian Dunne returns to the Otherworld as the long-thought-dead Winter Prince, his past still lost to him in his mind. To win back the Winter Court stolen from him, Cillian must seek allies in the Fae who judged him guilty of associating with witches long ago.

Among the Fae, who are his sworn enemy, Bran will do and become anything to stay by his lover’s side, even if it means wearing Cillian’s collar and being seen as his pet.

Journeying with Bran to the Autumn Court, Cillian rejoins Fae high society during the Midsummer Festival. Little do they know the pitfalls that await, including an adversarial King Lugh, who wants Bran for his personal entertainment.

Cillian will do whatever it takes to keep Bran safe. Navigating a dance of long-forgotten manners and insidious words, he strikes an unbreakable bargain with Lugh that sets the clock ticking for Cillian to prove his innocence.

But as a threat to the Autumn Court creeps ever closer, the stakes become impossibly high. In the end, Cillian must choose between keeping his bargain and his life…or lose forever the witch who owns his heart.

TROPES:

MM Romantasy
Fantasy Romance
Fae Courts
Forbidden Love
Possessiveness
Forced Proximity
Main Characters Descending Into Darkness

Please see the beginning for TWs.


SNik's review:

Second in series (Bitter Legacies), must be read in order. Urban fantasy. Established relationship. Fated mates. Found family. Dual POV. Mild cliffhanger. Heed content warnings. 

Bran and Cillian are no longer safe in the mortal world, and they must return to Otherworld anyway to regain the Winter Court throne. However, Otherworld is fraught with danger and political intrigue where they may lose their lives and each other. 

Cillian promises to keep Bran safe but the fae world is no place for a witch and the angst about Bran’s presence at Cillian’s side was ever present. I appreciated that they were both thoroughly committed to each other but Cillian still has no memories of his past and the fae treatment of witches is horrific. There are plenty of dark scenes so heed the content warnings. I do wonder about the loyalty and found family aspect of those around Cillian when the glimpses of his past self was not particularly kind, so this will be interesting to see play out over the series. I am rooting for Bran and Cillian but their powerlessness was super stressful.


Twisted Iron Marks is currently available as an audiobook, e-book and hardcover, and can be read as part of your Kindle Unlimited Subscription