The Dragon King's Captive Bride

Princess Elara Veyrion has only one reason to stay alive. Revenge.

She watched the Dragon King's armies reduce Valoria to ash. She held her dying father as he gave one final command:
Kill Kael Draven before he tells you the truth.

Months later, Elara finally reaches the feared Dragon King with a blade aimed at his heart.
He does not execute her.

He offers her a bargain.

Marry him for one year, and he will end the war, protect the surviving people of Valoria, and give her access to the ancient power buried beneath her fallen kingdom.

Elara agrees for one reason.

Becoming his bride will bring her close enough to kill him.
But Dravenhold is not the cruel fortress she expected. Dragons protect human refugees. Former enemies rebuild villages together. And Kael is nothing like the monster from the stories that shaped her childhood.

He knows she sleeps with a dagger beneath her pillow.
He knows she is studying his weaknesses.
He knows she intends to murder him.

Still, he refuses to force her obedience, her trust, or her affection.
As hatred gives way to dangerous desire, Elara uncovers a truth more devastating than betrayal.
Kael did not destroy Valoria to conquer it.
He destroyed what her father was awakening beneath it.
The Hollow Flame is an ancient force that feeds on magic, blood, and human souls. Now it is rising again, and stopping it will require the Dragon King's flame and Elara's royal blood.

But her father left one final weapon inside her.

A command that will force her to kill Kael the moment she learns the truth.

To save both kingdoms, Elara must decide whether revenge is worth losing the man she was raised to hate.
And whether she can trust the enemy who may have sacrificed everything to save her world.