Where Dreams Fall by R.L. Caulder (Defying Fate #1)

In a world in which dreams are guarded and nightmares are unsanctioned, one woman's unraveling mind may hold the key to everything the empire fears.

Elysia has spent her life thus far beneath the white clouds of the Dromin elves, protected from nightmares and the Nithrin elves that feed on them—until now. Her dreams have begun to twist into haunting scenes of ancient creatures, death . . . and a mysterious figure cloaked in light and shadow. Elysia suspects he's a Dromin elf breaking multiple laws to appear to her, and his whispered words and lingering touch ignite a spark between them that the gods themselves will soon fear.

When the queen dies and a brutal selection process to replace her begins, Elysia quickly realizes the waking world is fracturing alongside her sleeping one. Women across the empire are offered to the elven high priestess, put forward as potential heads for a crown drenched in blood and lies. Elysia finds herself at the center of the trials, and if she's to survive them, she'll have to decide what she's willing to fight for—and if she can live with the choices she's forced to make. Because only one will be chosen as queen, but all will be broken in the process.

Elysia eventually ascends into the elven world to find the one who stirred her heart is waiting there, but his true identity is far more dangerous than she ever imagined. Choosing each other will mean forsaking the world they're trying to save . . .

Sweeping, perilous, and aching with forbidden passion, Where Dreams Fall is the first book of a dark romantasy series in which love is the most dangerous rebellion of all.

Narrated in duet style.