Kept Darkly by Tarrant Smith

As the Seelie Queen’s champion and captain of her guardsmen, Sel, son of Selgi, has lived a life ruled by duty and honor. For centuries, his Queen’s wishes have dictated his every action. Not once has he questioned the legendary seer-queen’s edicts or flinched upon receiving a new mission—that is, until now. The Queen has ordered him from her side and from her court so that he might take an unseelie as his mate, fulfilling the requirements of an ancient fey law long ignored. As if that weren't bad enough, the Queen has named the unseelie girl. It is Riona, the dark and hauntingly beautiful bastard daughter of the morally corrupt Unseelie King. What the hell could the Queen be thinking? Riona has lived most of her life hiding from her powerful father. She is the unwanted issue of a despised king and his lusty courtesan, a political pawn her father is determined to use to his advantage. But King Melwas can’t use what he can’t find. Riona, who has grown used to betrayal in the Unseelie Court, is grateful for the timely intervention of the Seelie Queen in escaping her dreary fate—that is, until she learns that the Queen intends to reward her captain by formally binding Riona to him. She knows Sel by reputation only. He is said to be cold, unfeeling, and frighteningly powerful. He is also rumored to be desperately in love with his sovereign. There is no chance that the Queen’s most loyal defender will ever truly love her, so why, then, cannot Riona steel her heart against him? Added bonus: Blood & Fire, a Darkly Short Story Airem’s strength is that he is dragon-kind. It is also his biggest weakness. Thanks to the perverted sense of humor of his own King and Queen, he is now the Seelie Queen’s enforcer tasked with catching and retrieving wayward fey who choose to flaunt the ban on traveling from their homeland of Tir na n-Og to the human realm. Not a bad gig really, since hunting comes naturally to him. Typically Airem likes tagging, bagging, and occasionally bedding a she-fey when they raid the populous looking to supply their fey pleasure dens with newly enchanted humans. The Queen has banned such practices in the Seelie Court, but the unseelie are a lusty and mischievous lot. After a hundred centuries of service to the Seelie Queen, Airem thought he had seen it all – but then she came looking for him. He knew the lavender-eyed unseelie was trouble the moment he locked eyes with her, but he just couldn’t seem to help himself.