Well, this was a big womp womp for me. Sad to report the last book in the Maiden Lane series did not in any way make me feel that the series was complete. Also, as I was warned about, the last three books in this series were dark, disturbing, and felt a bit out place with the rest.

CW: kidnapping, attempted rape, description/discussion of rape of children (main character was raped as a child), gun violence, death of secondary characters, blood, gore, animal endangerment, probably more.

At the end of [b:Duke of Pleasure|29740747|Duke of Pleasure (Maiden Lane, #11)|Elizabeth Hoyt|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1465093239l/29740747._SY75_.jpg|47288985], I was all in on Lady Iris Jordan. I loved how Hoyt handled Iris becoming friends with (and not rivals of) Alf, who marries Lord Kyle instead of Iris because of true love. Iris, a widow, had a loveless marriage and she's ready to find at least companionship and have her own family.

Instead, she finds herself kidnapped and about to be raped by the Lords of Chaos, but then rescued by one of the naked and masked men who turns out to be an interloper, the son of the former head, who is trying to take the group down. She shoots Raphael, Lord Dyemore, in the arm and while he is bleeding he forces her to wed him "for her protection."

Up to this point I was having an okay time. But ultimately I never bought into their romance and I never felt fulfilled by Raphael seeking revenge and the downfall of the Lords, and especially the leader "Dionysus."

SPOILERS

Spoiler

Iris is basically enchanted by the beauty of Raphael "despite" his face scarring and his kind of scary/overbearing demeanor. She's like sure, let's be married and have pleasure and you can give me a family. Raphael is adamant he doesn't want children. He has never had penetrative sex with anyone as he's traumatized by his father raping him on his 12th birthday as part of an initiation to the Lords of Chaos. His father was a monster, and Raphael fears any child he would have would be as tainted and dirty as he feels he is. This is all super traumatic and awful, and I just do not feel like Raphael's trauma was handled in a way that could make me believe he would all of a sudden be okay with trying to have a family. Especially since Iris incites him to have sex with her, even though she knows he does not want children. That's real shitty Iris.

Also, the ultimate reveal that "Dionysus" is a man who also suffered repeated rape at the hands of his father and brother (also in the Lords of Chaos) hit hard and not in a good way. And despite this being the last one, there is still the specter that many of the "lords" are still out there despite the head of the organization being cut off.

So, at the end of this journey, and as I was warned, I could have just not read the last three books and it would have been just fine. I'm still glad I did read the whole series and it has been a good pandemic past-time as little has been able to hold my interest.