The second in the Kings of Avalier series introduces us to the Elf King who is the bitter enemy of the Nightfall Queen. She poisoned his family when he was a young prince. THE BROKEN ELF KING is an odd term but I’m taking it to mean his heart is broken. He’s afraid to love anyone again.
Young woman Kailani, or Lani, Dulane is half elf and half human, with some of the elven healing powers. She entered into a debt to buy medicine for her human aunt, and when she couldn’t pay, the Nightfall debt collectors sold her into indentured service. She ends up in Elf City where King Raife Lightstone needs hands around the castle. Lani’s education and willingness to work get her the post of poison tester and secretarial assistant. Maybe she could have done without being the official taster, but royal food is good. She also gets nice clothes as befits her role.
Lani tries to arrange a series of meetings between the king and eligible young women, but after a while, he moots the idea of a fake marriage between them. Raife is a natural healer and Lani has impressed him with her alacrity and kindness towards people who are ill. If Raife is married the state council will back his plans to go to war. How could a young woman say no – especially when she fancies the pants off him?
The first half of the book is light in tone compared to the earlier book, which was set in Jade City. Author Leia Stone seems to be deliberately giving us contrasting heroines. Where Arwen in The Last Dragon King was a bow hunter, dressed in jerkin and trousers and hauling home her kill, Lani is a social butterfly, dressing sumptuously and making speeches. The tale isn’t as gripping because there isn’t as much menace, bar the ever-present possibility of toxins. I’m annoyed that Lani’s aunt never gets a name. The action starts in the second half, leading to a gambit by the Nightfall Queen which forces everyone’s hand. Definitely worth waiting for.
The fake marriage trope is clearly a YA situation, as courtly politics would intrude in a tale meant for adult readers, and the new queen would have to be gifted land and titles of some sort. Here’s she’s just expected to be steadfastly loyal. Hard to be loyal to someone who says he can’t love you. THE BROKEN ELF KING has allies to find and a war to fight, which will continue in the next book of this series.
In an effort to save her sick aunt, nineteen-year-old Kailani took out a loan she knew she would never be able to repay. Now, the only way she has any chance of paying it back is if she accepts a job as the Elf King's personal assistant. Rather than fulfilling her dream of studying medicine, she has no choice but to help the king find a wife so his council will fund his war against the bloodthirsty queen who killed his entire family.
The king is rich, alarmingly handsome, and brilliant, so Kailani assumes she will have no trouble finding him someone to marry. The only problem is that he rejects every potential wife she sends his way. The more time Kailani spends with the king, the more they develop a genuine connection, and the more painful it is to try and set him up with another woman. So when he proposes a fake marriage between the two of them, Kailani is powerless to deny him. She just has to figure out how to be his wife without falling in love with him for real.
Kailani is left battling her feelings for the king while she also learns a shocking truth about her own magic that puts her life in imminent danger. As an explosive war brews, Kailani must figure out how to protect her heart and her life.
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