A Dance With The Fae Prince
by Elise Kova
Published by Silver Wing Press
Book 2 in the Married to Magic series
Katria swore she'd never fall in love.
She's seen what "love" means through the cruelty of her family. So when she's married off to the mysterious Lord Fenwood for a handsome price, all Katria wants is a better life than the one she's leaving. Feelings are off the table.
But her new husband makes not falling in love difficult.
As their attraction begins to grow, so too do the oddities within her new life: strange rules, screams in the night, and attacks by fae that Katria never thought were real. When she witnesses a ritual not meant for human eyes, Katria finds herself spirited away to the land of Midscape.
Surviving the fae wilds as a human is hard enough. Katria must survive as a human who accidently pilfered the magic of ancient kings - magic a bloodthirsty king is ready to kill her for in order to keep his stolen throne - and her new husband is the rightful heir in hiding.
The power to save the fae is in her hands. But who will save her from a love she vowed never to feel?
Age Recommendation:
16+
Genre:
Romance
Fantasy
A Dance With the Fae Prince is the second book in Elise Kova's Married to Magic series, and centers on Katria, a human girl, who has her hand sold off by her step-mother, to the mysterious Lord Fenwood. Brought to a beautiful manor on the edge of the woods, and with a husband who doesn't seem interested in getting to know her, her personal vow to never fall in love, and fall victim to the cruel practices she saw in her family, should be easy to keep. Only, it's not. Despite the strange rules and occurrences, and unsettling woods nearby, Lord Fenwood and Katria's nightly nightcaps have them intrigued with one another. But one evening, when their evening conversation is cancelled, and she is left with a note that leaves her questioning everything, she breaks the rules set for her - and finds herself witnessing a secret ritual, that whisks her away to Midscape, in the fae lands. Being a human in Midscape, especially in the war torn fae lands, is dangerous. But more dangerous is the magic inside her from the ritual, and the fae prince - her husband - she took it from. With a bloodthirsty king hunting the magic, and the last of the true heirs of the thronw down, can Katria survive not just with her life, but with her heart as well? Because the longer she stays in Midscape with the Fae Prince, the stronger her feelings for him grow.
After reading A Deal With the Elf King, I knew I wanted to continue with this series. Elise Kova has a unique way to writing fantasy romance. It's beautiful and whimsical, and emotionally triggering. And it felt very much the same way in this book too. Did I love it as much as I loved the Elf King? I didn't. But it wasn't because there was something wrong with the book. It's beautifully written, and I was swept away with the story, sneaking peeks at my kindle while I was working because I just couldn't wait. I truly think it's because the characters felt young to me. Which, when dealing with two characters who have lived in seclusion all their lives, with limited contact with other people, it makes sense. It was also a bit predictable. DESPITE THIS, I still couldn't wait to get to the end when all was revealed.
A Dance With the Fae Prince was just as magical as the first book in the series. We get a magical, mysterious hero, and strong, courageous heroine, and an undeniable chemistry between the two, leading to a slow burn romance that is hard to beat. If you are looking for a fantasy-romance with a happy ending, look no further than the Married to Magic series.
Lord Fenwood listening to Katria play the lute
Their nightcaps
Davien and Katria dancing
Davien bring Katria to his room after watching her dance and sing, that leads to them making out
Davien telling Katria he loves her
Katria watching Davien sleep, and imprinting his image on her mind
Davien seeing Katria at the ball he was to be executed at, and Katria completing the ritual
Katria killing Boltov
Davien crowning Katria
Katria getting Misty back
Katria: “I’m trying to figure out what’s wrong with you,”
I admit and immediately busy my mouth with my glass of mead.
Lord Fenwood/Davien: “What’s wrong with me?”
I hear him take a sip as well.
Katria: “You sound…stunning,”
I admit as little more than a whisper.
Katria: “I thought you might have not wanted me to see you because you were hideous.”
His glass clanks softly on the table. I hear him stand. I’ve offended him. Before I can apologize he’s there again in front of me. He hooks my chin with the knuckle of his pointer finger and his thumb. He guides my face up toward where I imagine his to be. I know he’s just a breath away. I feel every little bit of aching distance between us, paired with a surprising need to cross it. I’m hot all over, but I can’t move to alleviate the tension. He’s trapped me with two fingers.
Lord Fenwood/Davien: “Maybe, I’m trying to protect you because I’m stunning. Because if you were to look at me with those eyes that Oren tells me are like a tempest sea, I could never let you go.”
Shaye: “We’ve never had a human who stole fae magic before. Maybe if he shakes her hard enough it’ll burst out of her. Or her head will pop right off.”
Katria: "I want to live—more than anything—and because I want that, I refuse to spend my hours as someone’s thing. I’m going to live my life, the way I want to live it, or die trying. So help me live or be ready to kill me.”
Shaye: “Sire, true king, permission to speak freely?”
Shaye has perched herself on the top of a rock we’re passing by. She’s been close enough to overhear the whole conversation.
Davien: “Granted,”
he growls.
Shaye: “You’re being an ass.”
Shaye smirks.
Shaye: “That is all.”
Davien: “Sing for me again,”
he whispers.
Katria: “What do you want to hear?”
I breathe. I couldn’t sing right now if I tried. My throat is too tense. Mind blank.
Davien: “Anything.”
He lifts a hand, cupping my face and dragging his thumb lazily along my lower lip.
Davien: “As long as I can watch your lips."
Katria: "I can't think of a single song.”
My cheeks are burning.
Davien: “This is why I never wanted you to look at me,”
he says slowly, a smirk curling his mouth dangerously. He looks as if he intends to devour me.
Davien: “Because I knew if you did you’d be stunned into silence. And I never wanted to see you quiet.”
Katria: “No emotions?”
My eyelids are heavy. Every blink is longer than the last. His lips curve like a scythe, and I am ready for harvest.
Davien: “No love. Though, if you let me, I will make you feel.”
Katria: “Feel what?”
Davien: “Everything.”
Davien: “Why do you think love, of all things, is pain?”
Katria: “I have seen what happens when two people fall in love. One collapses into the other, all sense of self, and worth, and strength crumbling under the boot of the party who ends up on top.”
Like the statue of my father that I had built in my mind, strong and resolute, turning to dust the moment Joyce entered our lives.
Katria: “I have heard the bitter fights, the barbs, the hate that is slung and smoothed over in the name of love, precious love.”
Davien: “None of that is love."
Katria: "Love isn’t like the storybooks. It’s a transaction at best.”
Davien:“No.”
Davien takes a step forward, encroaching on my personal space.
Davien: “Love is the closest thing we have to meaning in this world. The love of a mother for her children, the love between friends, the love of a husband and wife, love for who we are and all those who strove before us to hand us the world we have now—love is why we live, why we fight, why we carry on when things get tough ... it is not always easy. But it is our reprieve from true hardship, not the hardship itself.”
Katria: “Why is it that it is so much easier for me to process being treated like a thing than a person? How is it that the latter hurts more?”
I blurt. Giles blinks several times over. His brows arch upward, knitting together in the middle. I can’t stand his pity already.
Giles: “Because now you know this is how you should have been treated all along. Because you know that if one person sees you, respects you as they should, then there’s no excuse for anyone else not to. The fault does not lie—has never lain—with you, but rather the shortcomings of those you have been surrounded by. You were always worthy.”
Katria: "He seems like a good man.”
I draw my knees to my chest, hugging them. He meant well in the woods. He just…doesn’t understand.
Davien: “He is. But then again, I try and only keep the company of good men and women.”
Katria: “So how did you end up married to me?”
I ask with a laugh.
Davien: “Because I think you are the best woman of them all.”
Davien: “My every thought returns to you. You are like a whirlwind, down and down I spin, every time, until I’m caught in your center. Now, I know there is only one way to escape.”
Katria: “And how is that?”
I’m framed by his arms as he supports himself above me. One knee is between my legs, shifting as he moves forward.
Davien: “To give in, to stop fighting, and see where you take me.”
Davien: “I need my magic to protect Dreamsong and the more we delay the greater the risk. I have spoken on this and I am your king.”
His voice raises at the end to a near shout. Davien points at the ground, as though he is trying to stake the very earth as his own.
Katria: “No…”
I shake my head.
Katria: “You are not my king. You are the Fae King. And I am clearly nothing but a lowly human vessel housing your magic. So fine, we ride, Your Majesty. But if there is blood today then know it is on your hands.”
Katria: “Stop being kind to me.”
My voice raises a fraction.
Katria: “Stop pretending like any of this is real.”
He staggers, almost as though I’ve struck him. Davien shakes his head slowly.
Davien: “Every minute of this has been real for me. More real than I ever wanted or asked for it to be.”
Katria: “It’s not.”
Maybe if I say it enough times, it will be true for both of us.
Katria: “It can’t be. Not just because of what our futures hold. But because we never were even supposed to have met.”
Davien: “But we did. And despite all odds—”
Katria: “Don’t say it.”
I know it’s coming. There is the same tone in his voice as there was when he was speaking to Shaye.
Katria: “If we stop this now, we can pretend none of it has happened.”
Davien: “We are beyond pretending.”
I know what he says is true, but I continue anyway. I can’t stand idly by as he condemns us both.
Katria: “Neither of us will have to be hurt more than we already will be, already are. We can—”
Davien: “Despite all odds, I love you, Katria.”
Davian “None of that is love.”
He scoops my face with both his hands. His thumbs run across my cheeks as angry tears spill over my lower lids.
Davien: “To call it love is an insult to the greatest thing we have on this world—love, true love, is the only thing more powerful than magic itself.”
Davien: “There’s no reason for cruelty, no excuse.”
He shakes his head and kisses my hair. I’ve never felt more protected than in this moment and it only makes me cry harder.
Davien: “But I swear to you, Katria, with all I am and all I will be…as long as I draw breath, I will never let them, or anyone, hurt you again. You will never have to go back to that house. And should you ever wish to, because you feel that confronting them in the cruelty they have wrought will bring you some peace, I swear I will stand by your side if you need me.”
His words are sweeter than a song. I’ve never heard anything so lovely. There’s not even the slightest hint of smoke in the air around him. I pull my face away from his body to look up at him, tilting my head back as far as it will go to meet his eyes. His hair curtains around me like it did the first night I fell into his bed.
Katria: “Why would you do all that for me?”
Davien:“You know why.”
A sly smile plays at the corners of his mouth.
Davien: “Because I love you, truly. I love you in a way that makes me want to sacrifice for you. That makes me want to move the mountains, or oceans, or stars, to merely see you smile.”
He strokes my cheek again, looking down at me with all the wonder in the world.
Davien: “That is what love is, Katria—what it should be. You are worthy of that love, from me, from others, and from yourself.”
Boltov: “You are the human.”
Katria: “And you are the last Boltov the fae will ever suffer.”
Davien: “Let them see. Let them all see that their king loves the woman who saved his kingdom.”
Davien: “Sit, Princess Katria, on the throne that you saved, that is rightfully yours.”
I oblige him. The throne doesn’t feel any different from any other chair. But I’m keenly aware of the moment that the glass crown hovers above my head. I glance up at Davien, stealing whatever bravery I can from his loving gaze. He lowers the crown to my brow. It stays. A perfect fit.
Davien: “All hail, Queen Katria, true blood heir to the fae throne, last of the Aviness bloodline,”
Davien intones and the hall echoes. He gives me a small smile, love glittering in his brilliant eyes.
Davien: “Long may you reign.”