Promise obtains a rare slave.  He is a gryffin and extremely volatile at times, or so she has been told.  Taking the advice of her manager, Promise orders the gryffin’s barbs to be clipped, not knowing how much pain that will cause him nor how much a gryffin relies on their barbs when mating.  When her gryffin becomes ill afterwards, she nurses him back to health and falls in love.  She doesn’t know how to tell him that she is the reason he is now without barbs, and she can only hope when he finds out that he will still love her.

Tranth has never experienced pain like the pain he felt when his barbs were clipped.  Unsure why anyone would harm him, he allows Promise to nurse him back to health.  Falling in love with Promise is easy, especially since his now non-existent barbs try to extend whenever she is near; a sign of a gryffin mate.  When Tranth finds out that Promise ordered his clipping, his heart is broken and he doesn’t know how he will ever forgive her.  He still loves her but his forgiveness will have to be earned. 

I loved His Mistress.  Plain and simply loved it. I was at first unsure about Promise’s other ‘husbands’ but soon realized that they weren’t actually her husbands, but men who took her for granted and pretty much were useless.  Thus, when Tranth came into her life, Promise was finally able to love for the first time.  As sensual and heartbreaking as their love story was, it was also about forgiveness, mating and loving someone in spite of faults.  I thought it perfect!

Madison Hayes outdid herself with His Mistress.  I find myself daydreaming and wishing for a gryffin of my very own¾barbs or no barbs!