No Such Thing As Duty is a historical speculative fiction novella written by Lara Elena Donnelly, published by Neon Hemlock. A short but impactful blend between a spy story with a historical background and vampires, one that puts much attention to the detail and the immersion, while also giving us really acute characters that are dealing with the weight of their own mortality.

William, a novelist, playwright, and spy, is sent to Romania in order to serve the allies' interests against the Empire; he's dying out of tuberculosis, resigned to spend his last days there, far from the marriage he was forced to take. His superior tasks him with recruiting the elusive nobleman Walter Roşu to the cause; however, the own Roşu soon will show he's more interested in the own William than joining the fight, and William finds himself in the struggle between persecuting his heart's desire and fulfilling his duty before his time ends.

With William, Donnelly gives us an excellent main character; he feels a strange sense of duty towards his country, but he's also dealing with the perspective of a mortal illness. I would also like to point that Donnelly has nailed the portrait of how tuberculosis can become a source of physical disability, and how the suffering person has to deal with the perspective of losing the ability to do things that we have as granted. He still has guilt for some of the decissions he was forced to take in the past, and has accepted Romania as the place where he will die. 
Roşu is a fascinating character; mysterious, an aristocrat with power, and some abilities that make him desired by the allies. Despite being a vampire, we can see how he's also afraid of his own mortality; an intense person with a complicated temperament, but who plays perfectly alongside William.

Donnelly puts a great attention to the detail, making her descriptions to be really vivid, allowing the reader to submerge into the setting; a solid narrative structure that could have benefitted from a few more pages, especially to develop the relationship. The pacing is on the spot, but I would have liked a bit more of pause after scene actions, just to catch the breath.

No Such Thing As Duty is an excellent piece of what speculative fiction can offer to readers, a queer proposal that shows the strength of Donnelly's craft. A novella to devour!