Elara Vance, the disgraced youngest daughter of a dragon-riding house who cannot bond with a dragon, is betrayed by her jealous sister during an imperial attack—but her spilled blood awakens an ancient black dragon ridden by Kael Draven, the Empire's most feared general and her people's sworn enemy; upon their meeting, matching Dragon God marks blaze on their foreheads, and a Valkyrie reveals they carry the light and dark halves of a shattered divine soul, doomed to repeat their enmity across lifetimes until they surrender hatred and forge a complete soul bond to restore the Dragon God and save the Nine Realms. Hunted by a power-hungry emperor, a vast army, and her treacherous sister, the two foes forge a perilous alliance, as suspicion deepens into desire and sacrifice builds trust, allowing Elara to rise from rejected failure to the Dragon Queen she was destined to be; to break their curse, defeat the Abyss, and end a century of war, she and Kael must choose each other—even if uniting their souls costs them everything.
