Christian Dubonnetti is a tall, brittle, greying man, who brought up his boys with an iron hand and more than a hint of spite. He is ambitious, calculating and greedy, and in total opposition to Dante, who he should support as his son. But after finding damning letters hidden in the house that prove his dead wife – Dante’s mother, had an affair with his own cousin, The Duke Ormond Delissi, Christian disowns Dante and sets about pushing Marco forward to become king. The affair happened before they were married, and Dante had no contact with his biological father, but later Dante is forced to conclude that perhaps Christian suspected all along, and was the reason for his brutal treatment of him.
Would Christian be any kinder to his other sons – after all they were his blood? It seems not. When he hatches a plot with Malleven Mancini to get his hands on the 3rd siren and he double crosses him, it is Antonio who bears the brunt when Christian realises they are romantically involved. Bad though Malleven may be, he has Christian’s number when he craftily scans his brain when he first meets him. He sees only avarice and blind ambition, which probably means he has no loyalty to any of his sons and any one of them would do to further his ambitions. It seems that Christian seeks to control a king, whoever it is and doesn’t care if that means making an enemy of the present king; Dante, now out of his control.
That brings us to Jay; Dante’s best friend, and Christian’s adopted son. He has plans for Jay and tells him about the legend of the Darkly Begotten, and that he wants him to come home. Horrified, Jay refuses, finding the idea of betraying Dante abhorrent. But the seeds are sown and Jays life decisions after that are affected and marred.
By the end of book 3, it seems that all Christian’s scheming has come to nothing. Marco suggests they throw in their lot with the human governments who could be strong allies. Christian is horrified, so maybe he isn’t all bad. He still believes in the fates and the strength of the Orb. And besides, he hasn’t given up on what he wants – not by a long shot. He will definitely be back causing trouble in book 4 – Tiger Lily.
The Dubonnettis – Christian, Marco, Antonio, Stephan and Paulo