Hunted unmercilessly for his powers, the hero and twin sister as homeless and wandering. Knowing that her sister is a little bitter about her sacrifice for the heroine's safety, the heroine seeks a place where they can finally be safe. She uses her special Sight which allows her to see every which way but the future to find a glimpse of the best destination. There, on a deserted island, the heroine stumbles upon the sleeping hero in his cave. There, the hero seduces the heroine in a drugged state thinking it all to be a dream. Only to awaken and discover that the phantom woman is real and is in fact his destined wife. The hero feels emotions. And most time it's a psychical pain to around his family so she lives in self imposed exile. He rarely leaves the cave he guards and spend his time carving beautiful scenery into the walls. At first he's convinced he raped the heroine so he's tortured over that. Then he tortured over the fact that he doesn't deserve a wife. In fact the poor man is tortured over something or another from start to finish. He was brooding, anti social and so set into his ways it took a whole lot to draw him out of his personal prison. The heroine is kind and instantly Sees into the true behind his gruff demeanor. I thought thus started out good enough but boy did it fizzle out quickly. First of all, I can't tell if this was a period drama or set in modern times. Either it was a modern romance set in a strange pre-electronic world or the characters lacked access to anything modern OR it was a horribly written lazy historical romance. The characters lived in a very basic historical way, farming the food and showering with pump water but they spoke with modern phrasing and the heroine wore dresses and came from a tribe of some sort. This book made me cross eyed with the amount of trivia and facts about the world they live in. It was too much. They would drone on and on about every little detail regarding magic that I just wanted to shout 'somebody fight someone or something!' There was ZERO conflict outside the hero's whinny self-destructive attitude. It was just them...on and island...talking about magic... ( )

Rydan and Rora's story seemed to just flow along. She had a fairly easy time getting him to adjust to her being around, especially once he found out she's a living fountain. Nice continuation of the overall storyline. Even have a bet on who Koranen's destiny will be. ( )

This is a series I started reading years ago then kinda lost track of. When I saw this book it reminded me how much I had enjoyed reading the others in the series and decided to pick up where I had left off. Now that I have once again been in nightfall I am definitely going to finish this series. This story takes place at the same time as The Cat but from a different prospective.
( Rydans Twin's) I Liked this book very much. Rydan is an interesting character, he tends to be a loner keeping away from family, yet he cares very much for his brothers. When Rora comes to Nightfall she alone is able to see what torments Rydan, and she is determined to help him.

Eight brothers, born in four sets of twins, two years apart to the day they fulfill the Curse of Eight Prophecy. Though no longer trapped in exile, their growing family faces new problems. Now Rydan, the tormented sixth-born son, must find a way to trust his Destined bride, Rora, a woman who possesses her own secret power one that could bring them together or annihilate their world forever. ( )

Much less erotic than Trevan's story - for good reason, Rydan isn't anything like his brother. Still an excellent romance, but Rydan has major reasons - at least two - for warding off his Destined bride, so things go a lot slower. And then his verse comes true, and he barely notices - far more important things are happening at the time! As I said in reviewing The Cat, there's some advancement of the series story-arc, but not a lot, because these two books run simultaneously. Interesting overlaps and the same scenes from a different perspective, too. Rora is much more straight-forward than Amara; she trusts her powers to tell her true, and asks them what to do frequently. So she's very seldom uncertain of her path, and even less often uncertain for long. So when she decides she is Rydan's proper bride, and he gives up fighting - some external forces come into effect and hold them apart just a little while longer. Then, in the part of the story that doesn't overlap The Cat, we get some serious progress towards the Convocation - though it's three steps forward and two steps back. It also becomes even more strongly evident that the aim of this whole thing - both curses and all the events pertaining thereto - are aimed at reactivating the Convocation. Kelly was needed to think of it, Rora is needed to make it happen, Serina found out what was necessary...Alys and Mariel seem less directly necessary, at the moment, but they were needed to keep the rest of them alive and healthy so the next steps could be taken. Amusing - and very well done, there's no author fiat here. It all fits together.
Latest reread:
This time I noticed more of Rydan's reactions - he's clearly desperate for companionship, though he doesn't dare spend time with his brothers. Rora has an easier time of it than she might have because of that. We also learn a lot more about Nightfall's Fountain and how Rydan came to it. ( )

from official Jean Johnson website:
First, his most heavily guarded refuge is breached. And now, the worst of all crimes against Rydan of Nightfall: Rora, a pesky, privacy-invading foreigner, likes him and won’t leave him alone! Rydan knows he’s as appealing as a rosebush stripped of its blooms, so why does she persist? Any normal maiden should be seeking less thorny company than his.

But Rora isn’t normal. She alone sees the secret of what torments Rydan. And only she can persuade him to put it right before it destroys him. But Rora has her own secret as well—one of such vast power that other mages have killed in order to possess it. It once drove Rora and her sisters into exile, and, in the wrong hands, its power could annihilate their world. In the right hands, it could change her and Rydan’s fate forever. ( )