In the Conclave's great bonding ceremony, the runt egg was meant to fail. It was the last surviving egg of a dragon bloodline the rulers of Ironcrest hunted to extinction a century ago, and they kept it only to prove that the line was truly dead. But when the egg hatches, the hatchling does not bond to Kael, the scholarship student from the mining slums who was sent to fail with it. It bonds to her and to Dorian Ashford, the golden heir of the very family that destroyed its line. The tri-bond has not happened in 400 years, and it is the thing the prophecy says will end the Conclave's grip on the world.
The Conclave wants them dead in the trial they call the dragon-hunt. Kael wants her dying sister to live long enough for the healers the bond can earn. Dorian wants to be anything but his father. And the hatchling, Vaelith, wants 2 riders who will keep the door open, or none at all. So they train in the same lane, match each other's stroke, and learn to read each other's hearts, because the only way to survive the trial that was meant to cull them is to become a single will made of 3, and the only thing strong enough to hold that will together is the thing they are both too afraid to name.
Inside this sweeping romantasy of bond and fire, you'll discover:
- A soul-bond between 3 souls that the world has declared an abomination
- A heroine who has spent her life being told she is expendable and refuses to believe it
- A hero who must choose between his family's fire and the woman who sees the man underneath
- A trial that is really a culling, a rebellion built in secret, and a hatchling who burns through every cage
- A slow-burn romance forged in ventilation shafts, dead drops, and the ashes of a century-old crime
Because some bonds are chains, and some bonds are the door that sets a world free.