Of Salt and Sovereigns (Drowned Court Book 1) by Claire Willowbrook
When Maren Sael’s village cannot pay the tithe owed to the immortal tide-lords, she offers the only collateral left: herself. The bargain binds her for a year and a day to Aerec Vol, Sovereign of the Drowned Court, a man several centuries colder than the water he rules, whose laws are the reason the sea was allowed to take her mother.
The court beneath the waves is the most beautiful place Maren has ever been taken against her will, and it kills people regularly. She has spent her whole life hiding the tide-magic that would mark her as the one thing these immortals are afraid of, and hiding it is about to stop being possible. The bond she never agreed to reads Aerec as plainly as it reads her, which is its own kind of danger.
Of Salt and Sovereigns is Book One of The Drowned Court. Enemies to lovers, forced proximity, a fated bond, a slow burn that stays closed-door throughout. Court intrigue for readers who would rather the romance simmered than scorched.