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 himand conquered us in the night. My father, King Laurier of Scorpion Valley, couldnt 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 didnt 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 Titana man who has grown obsessed with me. The work under the hot sun is unbearablebut I prefer it to his company any day. Ive never tried to escape because theres nowhere to run in the desert, but all of that changes when I hear the newsthat the Death King is coming.

I sneak out in the middle of the night to steal his dragon, but that backfires in my facebecause you cant 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 mindbecause 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 causebut he wont 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 cant deny hes the most handsome man Ive ever seen, with eyes black like midnight, a jawline as sharp as his dragons 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 noand itll always be no.

But the Death King doesnt accept that answer.

This book contains dark themes with subject matter that may be difficult for some readers.