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Free Fantasy Romance Stories

Books by Alisson Bento

Find your next romance.

Kindle edition · free to read with Kindle Unlimited where available.

Nine complete fantasy romance novellas, free to read online. A sister who bargains with the Unseelie for seven nights to save her brother. An arranged marriage to a dragon willing to learn what choosing means. A tribute who kneels before the God of War so her little sister won’t have to.

Romance leads in every one: the world-building serves the couple, not the other way round. If you like your romantasy with bargains, beasts and a guaranteed happy ending, start here.

9 free stories to read online

Browse all 138 free romance stories

Where to start

If you want a fae bargain with enemies-to-lovers tension, start with Seven Nights with the Unseelie. A botanist who has hated the fae since they sent her grandmother home hollow is offered the flower her dying brother needs in exchange for seven nights at an Unseelie court, one truth or one touch each.
If you want a forbidden bodyguard romance with a masked hero, start with The Unchosen Tribute. Melantha volunteers to kneel before the God of War so her little sister won’t have to, and her faceless guard was never supposed to speak to her. At 15,234 words, it reads in about 66 minutes.
If you want an arranged marriage that turns into a real choice, start with The Glasshouse Vow. A human horticulturist is matched with a dragon surveyor who is willing to learn what choosing means, and the two work side by side over a rare flower and a glasshouse.
If you want cozy fantasy with magical crafts and a small town, start with A Light in Every Window. A wandering lantern restorer comes to Bellweather for five days, one lamp refuses to stay put, and a gentle caretaker makes leaving harder than she expected.
If you want dark fantasy why choose with beast heroes, start with Hidden from the Glass. Linnet has never been written down and hides every winter while the Council reads Lowmere’s throats. This year the reader comes eleven days early, and a bear, a fox and an owl find her first.
If you want a grumpy protector and a found family on a wall against the dark, start with A Lantern Takes Three. Sabine Lark has kept Morvath’s last western lantern alone for six years when Wall Command sends her a disgraced soldier, a smuggler and an expelled scholar.

Romantasy vs fantasy romance: what’s the difference?

Both labels describe stories that mix magic with a love story, and many readers use them interchangeably. Fantasy romance is the older term. It means a romance set in a fantasy world, where the relationship is the main plot and the ending is happy.

Romantasy is the newer word. It is often used for books where the quest, the war or the court politics carry as much weight as the couple, and where the love story may stretch across several volumes before it resolves.

Alisson Bento’s free fantasy romance stories borrow romantasy’s settings, with fae courts, dragons, gods and walls against the dark, but they keep fantasy romance’s shape. Each novella is complete, the romance is the main plot, and the world exists to put pressure on the couple. If you usually read long romantasy series, this is the same mix of bargains and beasts in a finished story you can read in an evening or two.

What the free fantasy romance stories here have in common

The heroines have work. Ros Ashgrove in Seven Nights with the Unseelie is a botanist. The Glasshouse Vow follows a human horticulturist. A Light in Every Window brings a wandering lantern restorer to Bellweather, and Sabine Lark in A Lantern Takes Three has kept the last lantern on Morvath’s western wall alone for six years. Some of these stories carry the competent-heroine tag on their story pages.

Rules and terms drive the romance. Thane, the Unseelie prince who cannot lie, offers Ros the flower for seven nights at his court, with one truth or one touch each night, her choice, and swears he will never glamour her into wanting him. In The Unchosen Tribute, Melantha of House Kora is offered to the God of War and must live untouched for three weeks, guarded by a Myrmidon with no face and no name. The Glasshouse Vow starts with a marriage arranged for the heroine and a dragon willing to learn what choosing means.

The love interests are rarely ordinary men: a fae prince, a dragon surveyor, a masked guard, and in Hidden from the Glass, a bear, a fox and an owl who all find Linnet on the same night.

The worlds are specific, too. In Seven Nights with the Unseelie, the cure Ros needs grows beneath a Cornish hill, and the Queen is watching every move. In Hidden from the Glass, the Council’s reader runs his glass over every throat in Lowmere each winter, and Linnet hides in the ice-house straw. In A Lantern Takes Three, the Void presses hardest on Morvath’s western wall while the old King is dying. These free fantasy romance stories put the danger close to home.

How to pick a free romantasy story to read online

Pick by mood first. The Unchosen Tribute, Hidden from the Glass and A Lantern Takes Three are all tagged Dark Fantasy Romance, and Seven Nights with the Unseelie lists dark prince and court intrigue. For something gentler, A Light in Every Window is described as a cozy fantasy romance, with a small town, a found community and twelve lights that could help Bellweather find its way home. The Glasshouse Vow centers on working partners and a chosen marriage.

Next, decide between one partner or several. The Shadowborn Cities stories are why choose: The Fourth Berth, Hidden from the Glass and A Lantern Takes Three each give the heroine three men. In The Fourth Berth, that means three devoted partners, dangerous salvage and a steam crawler. Hidden from the Glass pairs why choose with friends to lovers, and A Lantern Takes Three adds a grumpy protector. The other stories focus on one pairing: a botanist and a fae prince, a horticulturist and a dragon, a tribute and her guard, a lantern restorer and a caretaker. The Glasshouse Vow belongs to The Savage Hearts Series.

Then check the length. A Lantern Takes Three is 14,943 words, about 65 minutes. The Unchosen Tribute (15,234 words, 66 minutes) and Hidden from the Glass (15,493 words, 67 minutes) are close behind. The Glasshouse Vow, A Light in Every Window and The Fourth Berth each run a little over 20,000 words, 88 or 89 minutes. Seven Nights with the Unseelie is the longest at 26,099 words, about 113 minutes.

Reading these fantasy romance stories online

Every story opens free on its page. Confirm your email to join the reader newsletter, and the rest unlocks at no cost. It reads in any browser, on a phone or a laptop, with no app to install.

Before you start, look at the tropes listed on each story page. They show at a glance if a story has a fae bargain, a bodyguard romance, forced proximity or a found family, so you can match it to the mood you are in tonight. Every story ends happily, which is the one thing you never have to check.

Every story in this collection

The Bargain Under Glass

4,729 words · about 21 min read

Glazier Elin Voss has four days to repair the seven enchanted panes above Linden's water garden. The only guardian willing to help cannot cross her threshold without permission. As Elin and Soren Thale rebuild the failing glasshouse, an old invoice exposes a very ordinary betrayal. But restoring the garden means finishing the service that binds Soren—and loving him means making sure he is free to leave.

Tropes: Forced Proximity, Exiled Guardian, competent-heroine, equal partners, Chosen Love
The Witch’s Borrowed Heart

4,551 words · about 20 min read

Tamsin Alder knows how to mend a roof, soothe a fever, and keep her own company. She does not know how to spend eight days bound to Owen Rook, the surveyor who doubts her work. A cracked bell gives them shared exhaustion and a disappearing chance to repair an old wrong. Finding its missing clapper is only the beginning; trusting each other may prove harder than returning a borrowed heart.

Tropes: Forced Proximity, Witch And Skeptic, mutual-care, Chosen Love
Seven Nights with the Unseelie

26,099 words · about 113 min read

Botanist Ros Ashgrove has hated the fae since they sent her grandmother home hollow. But her brother is dying, and the only cure grows beneath a Cornish hill, in the garden of an Unseelie prince who cannot lie. Thane offers her the flower for seven nights at his court: each night, one truth or one touch, her choice, and he swears he will never glamour her into wanting him. The trouble is, she wants him anyway, and the Queen is watching every move they make.

Tropes: fae bargain, dark prince, Enemies to Lovers, wordplay, court intrigue
The Glasshouse Vow

The Savage Hearts Series · 20,228 words · about 88 min read

Olwen Dace has been offered a dragon's hand and a place for her rare plants. What she wants is work she can call her own. When a dangerous alteration threatens the glasshouse, she and Rhydan Varr must separate the bargain their families planned from the future they might choose together.

Tropes: arranged-marriage, competent-heroine, human-dragon, chosen-marriage, working-partners
The Fourth Berth

Shadowborn Cities · 20,456 words · about 89 min read

Mira Senn can free her steam crawler from debt by recovering one condenser. Then she finds the machine keeping six abandoned workers alive. With the causeway drowning and iron ash on the wind, her human pilot, Seelie engineer and Unseelie scout must help her choose what a home is worth—and whom she is brave enough to ask to stay.

Tropes: Why Choose, Chosen Family, competent-heroine, dangerous-salvage, Forced Proximity, debt
A Light in Every Window

Fantasy & Supernatural · 20,219 words · about 88 min read

Mara Vale knows how to mend a lantern and how to leave town before anyone expects her to stay. Hired to restore twelve old return lights for Bellweather’s assembly supper, she finds a restless green lamp, a disputed account, and a caretaker who offers help without deciding her life for her. Jonas Reed can repair almost anything in the hall except his habit of doing too much. As rain threatens the roof and an old claim threatens the lights, they must learn what can be shared—and what must be chosen.

Tropes: Magical crafts, Small town, Competent partners, found-community, Learning to accept help, A place to belong
The Unchosen Tribute

Fantasy & Supernatural · 15,234 words · about 66 min read

Melantha of House Kora is a spare tribute, offered to the God of War so her sister won’t be. For three weeks she must live untouched, guarded by a Myrmidon with no face and no name. Then he catches her on a rooftop at midnight, and the rules begin to burn.

Tropes: Forbidden Romance, Bodyguard Romance, Forced Proximity, Masked Hero, Dark Fantasy Romance
Hidden from the Glass

Shadowborn Cities · 15,493 words · about 67 min read

Linnet has never been written down. Every winter, while the Council’s reader runs his glass over Lowmere’s throats, she hides in the ice-house straw. Then the reader comes eleven days early, and a bear, a fox and an owl all find her in the same night.

Tropes: Why Choose, Forbidden Love, Friends to Lovers, Forced Proximity, Dark Fantasy Romance
A Lantern Takes Three

Shadowborn Cities · 14,943 words · about 65 min read

Sabine Lark keeps the last burning lantern on the western wall of Morvath, where the Void presses hardest and the old King is dying. When Wall Command sends her a disgraced soldier, a smuggler and an expelled scholar, she wants them gone. The dark has other plans.

Tropes: Why Choose, Forced Proximity, Grumpy Protector, Found Family, Dark Fantasy Romance

Reading guides

How it works

Three steps to your next obsession.

01
Pick your obsession
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02
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Confirm once and the rest of the story opens, along with the whole Reader Vault.

Questions

Before you fall in.

Is this romantasy?

Yes. These are fantasy stories where the romance is the main plot and the ending is happy, which is what most readers mean by romantasy.

Do I need to read a series first?

No. Each novella stands alone. Some belong to a paid series, and the story page names it.

Are they free to read online?

Yes. The opening is free on the page and the rest unlocks free with a confirmed email. No payment and no app.

How long are the fantasy romance novellas?

They range from 14,943 words for A Lantern Takes Three, about 65 minutes of reading, to 26,099 words for Seven Nights with the Unseelie, about 113 minutes. Most of the others sit near 15,000 or near 20,000 words. Each story page shows its own word count and reading time, so you can choose one that fits a single sitting or a long evening.

Is there why-choose romantasy in this collection?

Yes. The Shadowborn Cities stories are tagged Why Choose: The Fourth Berth, Hidden from the Glass and A Lantern Takes Three. In each one, the heroine has three men in her life rather than one. The other fantasy stories follow a single pairing. Check the tropes on each story page if you want to be sure before you start.

Are there any cozy or gentler fantasy romances here?

A Light in Every Window is the clearest pick. It is described as a cozy fantasy romance, with magical crafts, a small town, a found community and a heroine learning to accept help. The Glasshouse Vow is another option, built around working partners and a chosen marriage. Stories tagged Dark Fantasy Romance sit at the other end.