I was never meant to shape their story. Only to witness it... and survive it. I am Qareh, advisor, diplomat, and the quiet scribe at the edge of the Hyksos throne. My duty has always been simple: observe, calculate, and keep my king's path free of ruin. Yet the gods saw fit to bind that duty to a Hyksos court, a punishment in all but name. Everything changed the day she arrived. Nebetiunet, daughter of Pharaoh Sobekhotep, stolen from her homeland and renamed Merit. A woman fashioned by hathor herself, though none of us understood it at first. She walked into our palace like a soft‑spoken storm, and the king I served, Khyan, conqueror of nations, fell to his knees without ever realizing he had knelt. I watched it all. I watched her learn him: his temper, his wounds, the hunger he hid behind command. I watched him unravel, obsessed and devoted, blind to the trap the gods had set. I watched their love ignite rebellions, shift kingdoms, and bend the will of men. And I watched the gods tighten their snare. For Khyan, love became a battlefield he could not win. For Nebetiunet, love became the weapon that would destroy her. And for me... it became the burden I was doomed to carry. Because some destinies are not meant to be changed. Some tragedies are not meant to be prevented. They are only meant to be witnessed and mourned. This is their story. But it is also mine. The story of the king who conquered Egypt... and the queen who conquered him.

In ages past, humans were sacrificed to dragons, but somewhere in this dark history a miracle occurred. A dragon was tamed by its intended victim and its human heart triumphed over the beast within. No longer victims, these tamers became Divas, experts in taming their Dragon oppressors. Sacrifice evolved into marriage between the Dragonborn and humans. Many of the Dragonborn willingly entered into alliances with humans and others not of dragon blood, grateful that their bloodline survived extinction and that their painful savagery could be quelled. Many, but not all. Among the Dragon Lords were those who still favoured their beast over their humanity, equating it with power, wilfully ignoring the pain and mental instability that came with it. So, when the Chief Dragon Lord, Pen Draig Selwyn, chose to sign a treaty with Tweldor formally aligning the Dragonborn with the Angelic Guardianship of humanity, his grandson, Ninian with help from the Demonic Realm leads a rebellion against him. But all is not as it seems...

Text only version for Wattys 2026.

Book 2 in The Chronicles of Tweldor Urban Fantasy Series. Like a lot of people, Theodora thought she had finally found love... But that was before the creatures in her mind found HER! They whisper that love is not real and... she is listening. The evil voices have driven her to a place of darkness from which she may never return. The trouble is, this isn't just her problem anymore... Theodora discovers that her fiancé Myrddin has been trapped in the very place that she is struggling to avoid. To free him from a coma caused by dark magic, Theodora must journey to Limbo, where Abraxas, the demon they call the "reaper of minds" performs macabre experiments... If she fails, Abraxas will trap her in Limbo with Myrddin - both of them insane - probably forever. Just great! Could you do it? Would you go OUT OF YOUR MIND for love? What could possibly go wrong? "Love conquers all"... right? But... if love is enough to make everything right, then why is a Dragonlord's daughter choosing to remain in Limbo? Time may heal a broken heart but how do you persuade a broken mind to return to the world that broke it?

Bedlam is the hottest nightclub in town and it just happens to be situated across the road from the brothel, Jezebel's. Du Malum, a corporate giant, owns both establishments and business is booming. That is, until people begin to die in a manner that defies logic. Du Malum's involvement is suspected but how, and why? Only Du Malum's elite board members are aware of the tunnel hidden by dark magic, linking Jezebel's to Bedlam... Authors note to Wattpad Readers: This is Book 1 in the Tweldor trilogy, and is the revised and edited version of the story previously titled, "The Blood Of Jezebel," which had in excess of 16K reads prior to being taken down.

Daisy Marie "Dee" Del Buono and Luca "Kai" Romano have lived next door to each other their whole lives-but they've never lived in the same world. At school, Kai is untouchable: the star of the track, the golden boy everyone talks about, the name everyone knows by heart. He is the center of the stadium lights, loud and inevitable. Dee is a different kind of sound-the first-chair oboe who everyone hears but no one truly sees. She's the girl who lives in the static between band practice and her two best friends, hiding her 88-key heart behind a music stand and a wall of hoodies. And between them sits a lie they've both agreed to believe: They're not friends. Until one summer night, they cross a line they swore they'd never touch. When Dee's older brother, Arlo-Kai's best friend-leaves for college, everything shifts. The fence between their houses becomes a bridge. Late-night talks replace old arguments. They learn each other's secrets. They learn each other's smiles. Now it's senior year, and they're trying to pretend it didn't happen. Pretending they're fine. Pretending they can go back. Pretending the truth isn't pulsing every time they lock eyes across the hallway and across their bedroom windows. But the sweetest lies are the ones you tell to protect your heart- until the night they finally destroy it. "The Sweetest Lie" is a story about first love, quiet longing, and the moment when pretending isn't enough anymore. For readers who crave the chaos of Never Have I Ever, the longing of The Summer I Turned Pretty, and the quiet devastation of Normal People, The Sweetest Lie will absolutely wreck you (in the best way).

Multiple rollicking romances, and unexpected twists in the world of espionage as viewed by telepathic cats who twice save the world from a nuclear Armageddon. A fun read, just ask your cat.

2026 ONC HONORABLE MENTION (Top 40) - When a killer feral hog invades Verity State Park, Officer Rylee Harding quarantines the entire area until the threat can be eliminated. She soon discovers doing the right thing isn't easy, because summer has just begun, and the livelihood of Verity's residents depends on the seasonal flood of tourist dollars. Facing opposition from town officials, her neighbors, and even members of her own family, Rylee stands firm in her decision and risks her life and the life of her unborn child to face down the remorseless monster. This story is written for ONC2026 using prompt number 78: You begin to realize that nothing is quite what it seems. Jowls, Copyright ©2026 by Dennis Royer, @dennisroyer All Rights Reserved. Cover art by Deviant Art / ArtVixen0520. Used by permission.

In late-1960s Australia, thirteen-year-old orphan Madeline "Maddie" Piedmont is sent to live with her mother's sister and steps into a family still poisoned by old wounds. Behind the polite faces and carefully guarded secrets lies a scandal that once destroyed a young woman, tore a family apart, and left Maddie's own parents disowned and despised. As shy cousin Simon fights to silence a lifelong stutter and sharp-tongued Edith sheds her "Didiot" ways, Maddie begins to find a fragile place among them. But her grandmother has never forgiven the Piedmont name. Quietly, deliberately, she sets a predator on Maddie's trail: Jason Sturrock, the charming, amoral son of a corrupt politician. Warned never to be alone with him, Maddie and her cousins keep careful watch for years. Then one day, after a glittering awards show and a bitter argument, the careful circle breaks for the first time. Jason seizes his chance. Stripped of safety, vulnerable and alone, Maddie follows a strange, flickering light into the bush...and into the path of a kind artist named Bill Shakespeare. Under the rising psychedelic sky of a new age, among market stalls, painted vans, and the approaching Aquarius Festival, she begins the long process of healing. Yet the man who tried to break her is still free, and the past is not finished with any of them. Will love, found in the most unexpected place, be strong enough to cast out the shadows or will everything unravel like a dream with the new dawn?

When hostile townsfolk imprison a transient teen girl accused of murder, her best friend struggles against a stacked legal system to protect her from being railroaded.--- Local law enforcers eager to solve the case rush to judgment and arrest Cozbi Miraslova, a pretty teenager of Roma heritage working with a traveling carnival. The evidence against her is scant but the tight knit community believes carnies to be nothing more than gypsies, tramps, and thieves. After the carnival leaves town, Cozbi's best friend and co-worker, Jason Muir stays behind to defend her. In the process of solving the mystery, he discovers Cozbi's manipulative and duplicitous nature and learns how blind loyalty comes with a steep price. Cover photo credit: Shutterstock/Kisto