Mistral's Kiss ~ Laurell Hamilton

This is the fifth novel in the Merry Gentry series. Merry is a half faerie, as in one of the magic peoples from Ireland, and is in a contest to become the queen of the Unseelie, the first person, Merry or her cousin Cel, to reproduce shall become ruler, Merry would be Queen, where Cel would be King. There is a battle going on among all the Faerie peoples in the underworld ruled by the Unseelie, between those who want to see Merry rule, and those who want to see Cel rule.