Death

I was fifteen when the Death King came for us. With a mighty black dragon and the ability to command the dead, he raised an army of our fallen soldiers to fight for him, and conquered us in the night. My father, King Laurier of Scorpion Valley, couldn't stop him. I tried to flee but came face to face with the man in black armor, the man who looked more like a god than a human. Instead of killing me, he chose to show me mercy... but it didn't feel like mercy. Not when the next ten years of my life are spent as a slave in the Arid Sands, digging for Black Diamonds from sunrise to sunset. I'm also the personal slave of General Titan, a man who has grown obsessed with me. The work under the hot sun is unbearable, but I prefer it to his company any day. I've never tried to escape because there's nowhere to run in the desert, but all of that changes when I hear the news, that the Death King is coming. I sneak out in the middle of the night to steal his dragon, but that backfires in my face, because you can't steal a dragon. Khazmuda is no mindless beast. He can speak directly into my mind and hear my thoughts in return. The Death King is about to kill me, but Khazmuda changes his mind, because I have the gift. The ability to speak with dragons. The Death King spares my life once again and takes me back to his castle. He has no idea who I am, has no idea what he did to my family ten years ago. He asks me to fight for his cause, but he won't tell me exactly what that cause is. And then he tells me he wants more from me... desires me more than any other because, like him, I have the gift. I can't deny he's the most handsome man I've ever seen, with eyes black like midnight, a jawline as sharp as his dragon's talons, the height of a mountain, and shoulders as broad as a stream. But no amount of attraction will ever change the fact that he destroyed my life. The answer is no, and it'll always be no. But the Death King doesn't accept that answer. This book contains dark themes with subject matter that may be difficult for some readers.

The Death King betrayed me-so I did the same to him. My time in Talon's captivity has complicated my feelings. He's more than a monster that conquered innocent people for his own means. He carries a lethal wound no one can see, a justification for his cruelty. But I have wounds too-wounds that he caused. My entire miserable existence is because of him-a cruelty he will never understand even though he should understand it most. I and Inferno-the powerful red dragon that's fused his soul with mine-have agreed that the Death King must be exiled. We travel north to Riviana Star, the forest home of the elves and my father's brother, Ezra. I assumed I would be welcomed with open arms, but I'm treated with only suspicion by Queen Eldinar. She grants me asylum in her forest because I've agreed to be their ally against the Death King-but begrudgingly. Even when I'm in the presence of the elves, I drown in solitude. I'm the only one of my kind besides my uncle, but his reception of me isn't warm like I hoped. Commander Luxe takes an interest in me, but my heart still yearns for a man it should hate. And that's when he appears-The Death King-in Riviana Star. But not in the flesh. The Death King is far more powerful than I ever imagined-and I've made him my greatest enemy. Trigger warning: this novel contains dark themes including rape and pregnancy loss. Listener discretion is advised.

I've been abandoned by every man in my life-except for one. He arrived at the outskirts of Riviana Star just in time, and not only saved me, but the people I've come to consider my own. He pledged to be at my side always-and made me make the same promise in return. My heart can't hold onto the anger and resentment a moment longer-not when I want this man for the rest of my life. Queen Eldinar and the elves are far more suspicious of him than they ever were of me, but they offer him what he wants-the location of the dragons-if he does something for them in return. A war is coming in their forest-an attack by the dark elves that want to evade the Realm of Caelum-and they want the Death King to defeat them. The relationship between us has changed, an invisible rope tied in many knots binding us together. I've pledged my life to help him with his cause, to avenge the family that was so ruthlessly taken from him, not just because I want to free the dragons, but because I want him to have peace. He's given that to me-and I want to give him the same. A secret locked in the depth of my heart, I know my feelings for Talon are far beyond the physical. I can feel his soul next to mine when we're together. When I picture life after the war, I'm not Queen of Scorpion Valley or the Northern Kingdoms-but Queen Rothschild of the Southern Isles. But there's something between us that Talon refuses to share. Something I can't see-but something I can feel every time we touch. A distance that only flourishes rather than withers. A secret so heavy it sinks us in the middle of the sea.

Talon says the most horrible thing-that he doesn't expect to survive the war. It's an outcome I don't want to consider. My whole life has been an endless reign of suffering until I found him. He was the one who caused this misery-but he's also the one that healed it. Happiness is a terrifying joy, because once you have it, all you can think about is the moment you lose it. It's been decades since Talon has been to the Southern Isles, the place that had been his home for most of his life. Ethan says the place has changed, that the citizens are locked inside the kingdoms, that sailors can't get into port without an inspection, that the people are starving from a mysterious plague. Before the battle can commence, we need to know what we're up against, so I volunteer to enter the castle as a maid and report everything I know. I'm not there for a week before I see that Barron is exactly the swine that Talon says he is. It's there that I discover a horrid list of truths. It's there that I discover the Southern Isles have been destroyed by a dictator, and Barron is already prepared for war-because he knows exactly who the Death King is.

Twenty four years have passed since Talon and Calista defeated Barron and his sons. The dragons were freed of their mental imprisonment and now they soar proudly in the skies above the Southern Isles. Twenty four years of peace. Until Lily Rothschild's galleon sails off course and ends up far to the east . . . My parents didn't raise me to be a beautiful princess in a gown. My mother has always wanted me to live the life that I want. My father raised me like a son. Taught me the sword. How to fish and hunt. How to sail in the dark. And my mother taught me how to speak with dragons. When I decide to live a life of adventure, I can see the hint of sadness in my father's eyes, the worry that he always wears for me. But he lets me go. Encourages me to live the life that I want without reservation. I set sail with my crew, but our ship becomes caught in a storm and is blown off course, and I find myself in the one place my father warned me to never visit. We get stuck on the rocks of a strange island where everything is dead and the mist is suffocating on the lungs. And then I hear my name, spoken in an endless echo in my mind. "Lily Rothschild-come to me." A behemoth of a man stands before me, and I know who he is without an introduction. The God of The Underworld. "Daughter of Talon Rothschild, King of the Southern Isles, a man who doesn't pay his debts. You shouldn't have come here." My heart races in a way it never has. Despite how terrifying he is, he's also the most beautiful man I've ever laid eyes on. He stares at me with an intensity none of my lovers have ever shown. He can touch me with just his eyes. He doesn't want my life or my soul. He wants my body underneath his, at his beck and call, a servant to his desires. He's the king of demons and I shouldn't want his touch . . . but I do. And I want to save my father's soul.

With my father indisposed, I become Queen of the Southern Isles-and it's the heaviest responsibility of my life. I know the Barbarians will come for the kingdom, and I have to prepare for war. But I don't have to do it alone . . . because Wrath is with me. My advisor and my protector, he helps me secure the aid of my allies, and helps me remember my strength. And when I become lost in despair, he tells me I can do this. That I'm the only one who can do this. The God of the Underworld is my silent partner, a powerful ally that no one can see, and it becomes clear there's nothing he won't do for me. He watches my back when I trust no one else to do it. He helps me move pieces across the board against the Barbarians. My mother and brother grow suspicious of my powers, and I grow tired of telling them lies. Despite being swallowed by misery, as time goes by, it becomes harder not to fall for this man. And he doesn't bother hiding it either. Wears his heart on his sleeve and bares his loyalty like the crest in his armor. Except there's no way for us to be together . . . ever. He says there's no escape for him in the Underworld, that this is all we'll ever be. That he'll help me win this war and then leave me to find someone I deserve. But he's the man I want-and I won't stop until I find a way.