Desperate to flee a cruel home, Alistair offers himself to the royal dragons, certain he is walking toward death. While his scheming stepbrother Dorian poisons the household against him, an astonishing truth awaits beyond the sacrifice altar. The dragons recognize Alistair as their vanished heir, and he rises as their sovereign. Armed with power over two realms and standing beside Sule, their formidable leader, he faces the relatives who discarded him and refuses to let their regret rewrite the past.