Dragon Kings Boxset Two (Books 6-10)

Isa is a dragon shifter queen who has never seen her scales.

She wants to... but a spell laid on her castle thousands of years ago, traps her inside.

If she even thinks about breaking the rules, she’ll die…

Liam is tired of living under the shadow of his father, Obsidian—king over all the American dragons.

He constantly fights to prove himself. When dragons from Europe come with stories of an evil queen who rules a hidden dragon kingdom with an iron fist, he knows he’s found his mission.

Now he just has to survive…

Isa and Liam’s worlds collide and while each is bent on killing the other, they might just need to band together to a fight a larger threat that would kill them all.

Isa’s sword sunk deep into the emerald green flesh, and the cloying smell of blood assaulted her. No matter how many times she’d done this, she’d never get used to the smell.

Blood pooled around the sword, and the great beast swung its snout around and knocked her off her feet. Dammit. She’d missed the heart, and now the sword was stuck in its flank.

Again.

She should be better at this by now.

She stood, shaking out her arms. She was blinded for a second from the sunlight streaming through the windows four stories above her in the circular room. The room was cold, but since she was chasing a dragon, she was roasting, the heat pouring off him like a bonfire.

The dragon roared, his bright green flames nearly singeing her hair. That was close. Sweat formed on her forehead, and she ran behind the dragon so he couldn’t see her.

She had to get her sword back or she didn’t stand a chance. The dragon moved his head, his jaws snapping at the weapon. She focused on the sword as she ran, her slippered feet soft on the hard stone. She hid behind his tail, waiting for him to swing his snout around.

Instead, he swept his tail back, knocking her off her feet. Dragon’s Teeth! She hit the floor hard, her head cracking on the stone. She blinked the stars out of her eyes and jumped back up, but the dragon seemed to have forgotten about her altogether. The tail must’ve been an accident.

He was focused solely on the sword in his flank, trying desperately to reach and pull it out. He snapped at it again and missed. If he wasn’t careful, he would bite himself and do her job for her. She watched for a moment as he struggled.

Hands really were beautiful things.

He roared, letting loose flames, and flung his head back up. She leapt over his tail and gripped the hilt of the sword. It was slippery with blood, but she managed to hold tight and tear it out.

The dragon bellowed in pain. While it was distracted, she stabbed three inches to the right, and the dragon collapsed. Bingo. She’d hit the heart.

Finally.

The dragon shriveled, turning into a fair-skinned, dark-haired young man with blood seeping from the two stab wounds on his chest. She waited until the transformation was complete and then touched his forehead, reviving him. The wounds healed right up, but the blood on his shirt remained.

Jude blinked open his forest-green eyes and grinned. “I almost got you.”

“But you didn’t.” Isa held out her hand. He took it, and she hoisted him up. The training room in the castle felt larger without dragons. Sound echoed around the walls, and a chill fell on her.

He rubbed at his chest. “It hurts when you miss.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t have moved so much,” she teased.

He took the sword from her, concern etched on his beautiful features. “I have to keep things exciting. If anything ever happened to us, you’d have to protect yourself.”

Isa rolled her eyes. She’d heard it so many times. She’d never even been away from the castle grounds. She knew the stakes. She was queen, and the rebels wanted her dead. 

So she had to stay inside. Thank the gods she could revive dragons or she would never be able to train properly for the day the rebels came for her.

Because someday, they would.

It was imperative she stayed alive. Her grandmother taught her that before she died. She wished she’d be able to fly, and then she’d be able to fight better, but she wasn’t allowed to take her dragon form. Ever. 

Isa held the magic within her that protected her dragons from the prying eyes of humans. In America, dragons flew openly in the skies, always in fear for their lives from the humans hunting them.

But in Europe, dragons were invisible, and so they were protected.

By her.

The humans in Europe believed the dragons had all perished or gone over to the new world thousands of years ago. They had been hunted nearly to extinction, and so Isa’s great-great-great-grandmother created a spell that would allow them to live openly but unseen. She saved the dragons, and the daughters after her continued to protect them.

But that spell had dire consequences for the queen.

Isa was a dragon, but she’d never see her wings because she was forced to live her days as a human. Even as a child, she was not allowed to take her natural form.

She left Jude in the arena and skipped up the stairs to her tower. It was her private place, the only room in the castle that had a window she could open. Her guardians weren’t allowed in there—no one was except her. Her grandmother had taken her up here a few days before she died. It was where the magic lived. Well, really, it lived inside Isa, but this was where her grandmother passed the spell on to her.

She’d created herself a sanctuary up here with squashy chairs and couches. Blankets covered every surface, but the fireplace was never lit. There was no point because she always opened the window. Isa grabbed her thick fur cloak from the closet and made sure it was tied up tight before she flung open the shutters and let the icy air in.

The snow-covered mountains of the island in the Arctic Ocean surrounded her, and tips of evergreens dotted the mountainside. Below her was a snowy valley, and trees went on for miles. The view never changed, and she still loved it. She’d come up here as often as she could and stand at the window until her cheeks burned with the cold.

Her favorite days were when soft snow fell, but today, the sun shone brightly. A flicker of green caught her eye. It was far enough away that she knew she’d be okay for at least another ten minutes. She often watched her guards fly in, and most of the time, it was cloudy and snowy, but they were glorious in the sunlight. They didn’t like it when she watched because she’d be in danger if it wasn’t one of them.

She wasn’t sure who was flying toward her at the moment. At any given time, four of her guards were out in the kingdom, listening for news of assassination plans from the rebels or gathering things she needed.

They were her ears. She made her decisions based on their information. She was queen, and she ruled well and fairly even though she was young, only seventeen. Her grandmother taught her how to reign. Isa spent most of her days discussing plans for the kingdom. She longed to go out and talk to her dragons, face-to-face, but she understood that it was impossible.

Her people were only safe if she remained captive behind the castle walls.