The Dark Elf's Secret Baby

Secret Babies For Prothekan Dark Elves, Book 1

De: Celeste King

Narrado por: Eva Caine, Todd McLaren

I will not let this dark elf noble hurt my child!

Kerym was my dark elf overseer. I gave into his charms. But when I found out I was pregnant, I knew I had to leave and go far away.

He needed to grow up without fear. And Kerym? He didn't love me. Dark elves are monsters who view humans as animals. Who knew what he'd do when he found out I was pregnant.

Three years have passed and I've raised my son, Jasper, without worry. Until the day my new overseer takes over the town I live in.

It's Kerym. He sees me. He sees Jasper. And I know this is not a coincidence. He's been searching for us.

Does he love me? Did he ever? Or are we just inconveniences he needs to wipe out on his path to power?

Why is he here?

Contains mature themes.

©2023 Celeste King (P)2024 Tantor

come on

This story made me angry , than happy . I enjoy Celeste King for her range of emotions and understanding of the heart.

Narrators talk too slowly. I upped speed to 1.2x.

The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 💚💜💙❤️
Story/Plot: 📕📗📘📙📔
Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Chemistry: 🧪🧪🧪🧪🧪
World building: 🌏🌍🌎🌏
Character development: 😋🙂🙃😍
Narrator(s): 🎙🎙
Narration type: Dual Narration

In the shadowed depths of Protheka’s mines, where humans toil under the distant gaze of dark elves, a story of forbidden love and sacrifice unfolds. It is a slow-burning, emotionally charged tale that explores what it means to choose love—or freedom—when the two may not coexist.

Layla, orphaned by a collapse the elves chose not to prevent, survives in Camp Horizon—a mining outpost with fewer chains than most, but chains nonetheless. Her nights are lonely, her options limited, and her future uncertain. Kerym, a dark elf soldier born of nobility, harbors no illusions about duty. The moment he falls for Layla, ambition fades into silence. Yet love in a fractured world like theirs doesn’t bloom; it breaks.

One night changes everything. A kiss, a night of closeness, and then months later—pregnancy. Layla flees, not from fear, but with fierce resolve to protect her child from the cruel stigma of a mixed heritage. Kerym, left behind, is told nothing. When he learns the truth years later, what remains isn’t bitterness—it’s devotion. He risks scandal and status to find her again.

Though steeped in sensuality, this isn’t just a romance. It’s about the legacies we inherit and the ones we fight to rewrite. The world-building paints a chilling contrast between illusionary freedom and systemic power. While some plot beats—particularly the time skip—could benefit from deeper emotional unpacking, the bond between Layla and Kerym remains compelling and nuanced.

The setup is dripping with emotional depth and quiet tension. Layla’s resilience and guarded hope are especially striking given the trauma of losing her parents and the harshness of her world. And Kerym? A perfect storm of forbidden longing and rebellion against expectation. There’s so much going on beneath the surface—it is not just star-crossed romance, its legacy, shame, power imbalance, and quiet defiance.

I liked the story; the character development was terrific, and the two main characters were very likable. I loved the fact that Kerym was so nervous to find Layla when he gets to the city where she moved, that he can hardly walk off the ship. His legs are unsteady below him at the thought of what he might find. Plus, the fact that he has not stopped loving her or thinking about her in all that time. I also really enjoyed how intelligent and what a hard worker Kerym was, he wants to make things better for elf/human relations and has great ideas on improving things in the mining camps. I also loved the fact that the little boy, Jasper has magic.

This audiobook was narrated from multiple perspectives, done in dual narration by Eva Caine and Todd McClaren. Eva Caine has a nice, soft voice that is very pleasant. Though I’m not sure I like her tempo, and she is a bit monotone, there are no real highs or lows. Todd McClaren has an ok voice; he is not one of my favorites but isn’t the worst either. Though he does sound older than these characters and his voice for female characters sounds like an 80-year-old. He also speaks at a kind of slow monotone tempo that bothers me. Since both narrators have such a slow tempo, I increased the speed and it sounded much better.