Category: Romance Publisher: Tarrant Smith
ISBN-10: 1461081258
Type: Fiction
Pages: 332
Copyright: April 24, 2011
ISBN-13: 9781461081258
Price: $3.99 (eBook)
Book 3 in the Darkly Series. The Seelie Captain is pressed into an alliance he doesn't want but Riona eventually wins his heart and his loyalty.
Kept Darkly was awarded Literary Titan's Gold Book Award for August 2019.
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, can Riona not steel her heart against him?
As a Bonus: Blood and 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.
Professional Reviews
Feya
I loved the darkly series. Fell in love with the characters. I thought it was written excellent. I have become a fan and can't wait for her next book to come out. I would like to know more about what happens to these characters in the future. What can I say I loved it, loved it, Loved it.
Entertaining
This story was well put together. I liked the political games. I wish she did a little more world building. The ending where Sel is doing his duties and she is describing them, makes the story drag a bit. It would be nice if the action and fighting were more detailed. There were some grammatical errors that did not take away from the story so much.
Classic Fae politics....and sensuality!
ok..this was my 1st Tarrant Smith book..and the 3rd books in the Darkly Series. I love that Ms. Smith provides the reader with a flow chart in the book on the characters/Fae Courts and how they're related, and a glossary of common terminology in the back. Especially helpful for the reader like me who jumped into the middle of a series and don't already know the characters.
Anyone who enjoys stories of the Fae and understands how politically ruthless they can be will thoroughly enjoy this book. Our focal character is Riona, princess and bastard daughter of the Unseelie King (a very wicked man) from whom she hides. Sel, Captain of the Guard of the Seelie Queen, Gwen (forced mate to the Unseelie King)has been contracted by the Queen to be the mate of Sel. The Queen's motives are self-motivated in this match, but being a seer, she also believes it to be a good match for both.
Without giving away any spoilers, the story evolves around Sel and Riona growing to trust and love one another, while venturing into the Underworld on a mission for the Queen in finding her true mate, the Absent King, Arthur, and avoiding become once again a pawn to her evil father, the Unseelie King.
The book was good enough that I'll purchase books 1 & 2 in the series, as well as subsequent ones as released.
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