Every generation, the forge-town sends its best daughter up the mountain to keep the dragon calm. She was the first bride who could hear that the dragon was screaming.
Sarai Brand is the finest edge-smith of her generation, and the only one left who inherited her grandmother's gift: she can hear whether the fire bound in iron was freely given or stolen. An honest blade sings. A stolen one screams. She has been told her whole life that the screaming is only nerves.When the smiths' guild names her fifteen-year-old sister as this generation's bargain-bride, Sarai takes her place at the Warworks of Orrec instead. She expects to perform a marriage that is really a leash and then fade, ember-sick, like every bride before her. She does not expect the fae war-lord she's bound to be as lied-to as she is.
Ansel Orrec believes the fire under his mountain holds back an enemy at the border. He signs for it. In eight years he has never once been allowed to see what it actually does. And chained in the dark beneath his forge, a dragon has been three generations dying of a theft the whole valley calls peace — waiting for one set of hands that can finally hear her.
The war ended ninety years ago. There is no enemy. And the truth, once she strikes it true in front of the whole valley, will free a dragon and cost every family their bread.
Perfect for readers who love bargain-bride romance, morally-grey fae lords, and a dragon who is a person, not a weapon.
- 🔥 Bargain-bride romance where the marriage is a lie and the bride is the machine
⚒�� A war-lord who signs for a fire he was never allowed to understand
🐉 A dragon slowly dying of a stolen war, waiting to be heard
🗝️ A manufactured war and a beloved keeper who calls the theft a mercy
💍 Standalone romantasy with a full, satisfying HEA
Full-length romantasy (55,000+ words). Standalone love story with a satisfying HEA. Intended for readers 18+.
Genre: Fantasy
Used availability for Sasha Leone's Emberoath