Crowns of Ice and Fate

Due to the century-long war between the two kingdoms, a fragile peace has been upheld for the past ten years through a grim ritual: each year, five elves from the kingdom of Umori and five from Pfisma are sent to a desolate island known as the "Land of the Dead."

Once a wasteland of stone and sand, the island is now overrun by deadly beasts and monstrous exiles-criminals who were banished from both realms. Those who survived learned things far darker than crime itself. On that cursed island, the only law is: kill or be killed.

This year, Zephyr, desperate to escape his kingdom, secretly boarded the ship bound for the Land of the Dead, joining four other common elves chosen for the ritual. It was a sacrifice to the God of Death, a tribute that had been paid annually for a decade.
Hydra, his dragon, followed him from the skies above, through the treacherous sea passage known as the Gates of Hell.
Zephyr whispered to himself over and over: Just survive. Make it through. Cross to Umori. Find a better life.
Once his father-the king-realized where he had gone, he would believe his only heir was dead. He would lose both his son and the future of his kingdom.

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Herena had always opposed the sacrificial rite. She believed no offering should be required, but she could not ignore the truth: those five lives given each year saved millions more. Millions who would have otherwise perished in war.
Still, this year was different.

This year, Herena was taken.
Abducted from her own palace, her chambers, her very bed-forced onto the ship sailing straight toward the Land of the Dead.
Yet she was not afraid.

Not because she was brave-but because, deep down, she had always wanted to end the tribute.
And maybe... just maybe... this was the only way to do it.