(Will be released soon)
"How... How can she see me?" he whispered, a jolt of disbelief coursing through him." he stammered, disbelief washing over him. He frantically scanned the clearing, convinced she must be mistaken, that her gaze was drawn to someone else. But there was no one. Just him, shrouded in the deepening twilight of the forest.
A shiver, not entirely from the cold, ran down his spine. He felt a strange mixture of panic and exhilaration - the thrill of the unexpected, the forbidden.
"Hey, Mr... ?" Her voice soft, cut through the silence, startling him. "What are you doing in this forest? I seem to be lost, and I was hoping you might be able to help me find my way out."
Her eyes, wide with a mixture of concern and curiosity, met his.
He was rooted to the spot, his mind reeling. Could she actually see him? Was he hallucinating?
A dark, insidious thought crept into his mind. He forced himself to meet her gaze, his eyes flickering with a strange, unsettling light.
The thought of his fingers tightening around her throat, of the life draining from her eyes, was both exhilarating and terrifying. He was a predator, a creature of the shadows, and she was prey, lost and vulnerable. The urge to strike, to succumb to the darkness within him, was overwhelming.
But it wasn't just the urge to kill. It was the joy in the anticipation. The thrill of the hunt, the slow, agonizing realization dawning in her eyes as she understood her fate.
The absolute power he would hold over her, the knowledge that he could extinguish her life with a single touch. It was a power he hadn't tasted in centuries, a power that BOTH terrified and exhilarated him.
[WATTY'S 2024 SHORTLIST] When the Ravos Kingdom abducts the Nyrial Emperor's dragon, princess Aeryn Glastos must marry the demon prince planning her assassination to save her empire and end the war while guarding her heart and a dangerous secret.
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The twenty-two-year-old draconian princess is starting her final year at Insignia Academy during the height of the war between the draconians and demons. Aeryn's dream is to graduate as a bonded Champion in the Fire Force and fight in the war. The only problem is, she is the only draconian to never receive a power by age twenty. Ashamed of his powerless daughter, the emperor of the Nyrial Empire proposes a marriage between Aeryn and the Ravos Kingdom's demon prince to end the war and get his dragon back.
Shade Cross is ruthless, cunning, and dangerously powerful. Everything he touches dies, except Aeryn. He awakens something in her she has never felt before and she acquires not one, but two powers. She must navigate both nations built upon lies, betrayals, a forbidden alliance, and a deadly curse. When she discovers the truth about her empire, she must make a choice: protect the secrets and save her father, or side with the enemy. Aeryn needs to be careful because when it reigns, it pours, and she is caught right in the middle of a feuding storm between both nations.