Lord and Lady Darleigh have a marriage of convenience, something very common for their day and for people of their standing in society. But Georgiana, Lady Darleigh, is in love with her husband, Brock, who has spent the last two years ignoring her. For his part, Brock did marry Georgina for her money, and after she learned this he decided it would hurt her less if he kept his distance. Georgina throws herself into a social whirl for the next two years doing everything in her power to get Brock’s attention. When we meet up with the couple, Brock has decided he wants make amends for how he’s treated her and to have a real marriage. Georgiana wants to believe him but is unsure. As they begin to work things out, they both learn suddenly that the circumstances surrounding her birth are not all they appear to be.

Georgiana is really a Druid Guardian of Becoming, with the power to create extremely real illusions. With the discovery of this power, which she had no idea she had, she puts her life in jeopardy. Georgiana was raised by her aunt and uncle to believe that her parents died in a carriage accident. In truth, she was born to two druid Guardians. One of them, her father, is evil and would stop at nothing to carry out his goal of becoming king, even if it means killing his own daughter. Because of this, Georgiana’s aunt and uncle took great pains to hide her birth from him. When Georgiana created her first illusion, she alerted all druids to her presence, but luckily her father, the Duke of Gloucester, was not able to figure out who she was. As if this isn’t enough to curb a marital reconciliation, Georgiana is told she is going to have to mate with the third Guardian, a druid by the name of David Gwylum, in order to create another Guardian. David is all of sixteen years old. Neither Brock or Georgiana is having any of this. She loves her husband and has no wish to break her marital vows. Brock simply won’t allow his wife to do this. While he isn’t ready to admit it yet, he really loves her.

It’s decided that Georgiana must go to Wales, her homeland, in order to be trained and to fulfill her destiny. Brock insists on going with her to keep her safe, which pleases Georgiana and annoys her uncle. Her uncle wants her to fulfill her destiny by mating with David and believes Brock to be an impediment. I will admit that this was annoying. Both her uncle and aunt seem to blithely forget that Georgiana is married and keep pushing David on her. No, Georgiana and Brock have not had the best of marriages, but vows are vows. If they knew she was Druid to begin with and that one day she may have a duty to perform, they never should have let her marry Brock. To push her away from a husband she obviously loves was very distasteful. I warmed up to Gwynllian (Georgiana’s aunt) after a bit, but I admit to not liking her uncle, even at the end of the book.

This book had the ability to become one Big Misunderstanding after another but it didn’t do that. Brock and Georgiana actually talk to each other. Georgiana is very clear with Brock that she is not going to mate with David, and he trusts her. I would have liked to see more interaction between Brock and Georgiana though, as I was left unsatisfied with the amount of time they actually were together. The time they did spend together though was very satisfying. Brock is a hero worthy of that title. He sticks by and supports his wife, helping her as much as he can and admitting he’s wrong when he needs to, which is very commendable. For the her part, after their initial scenes together, Georgiana does not play coy games with Brock or try to make him jealous with David.

I have to say that the secondary story line about Brock’s mother being not quite in this world felt very stilted to me. It seemed to be put in only to help conclude the story. I was hoping it would play a more significant part in the plot and conflict; the fact it didn’t left me feeling flat. I also think that the ending was somewhat anticlimactic and great talent or no, I expected more of a battle with the Duke of Gloucester.

Something that did not make me feel uncomfortable (although it was discussed in the Pandora’s Box column on this book) was the tying together of religion and magic. At one point, Georgiana is told that only one Guardian has been able to create animate objects – and this is God. Since this may bother some people, I believe it bears a mention, but I wasn’t offended by it myself.

While the premise of Daughter of Destiny is interesting, pieces of it fell too flat for me, and even my love of Brock as a hero wasn’t enough to overcome my ambivalence to parts of the story. If you are looking for a romance with a bit of a twist, you may enjoy this one, but for me, it was merely an adequate read.