Welcome to the Royal Rider Military Academy, where only the ruthless survive. Twenty-year-old Ainsley No-Name is nothing. She's less than nothing. Just another faceless orphan stealing to feed her foster brothers and sisters. When three men snatch her off the street and drag her into the woods, she knows it's the end. Until she came. Scales the color of flame and brimstone, a dragon drops out of the sky and saves her. With that, the sacred bond between rider and dragon is formed... ...and her execution is set in stone. In Adalinda, there is one law held above all else. Any peasant who bonds with a dragon will be put to death. Left with no choice, Ainsley claims the only royal line that can't be traced. The Royal House of Boreen, daughter of the missing Queen Kisandra, and heir to the throne of Adalinda. A simple plot to keep her life and her dragon becomes anything but. The powers behind the throne will not bow down to a mysterious waif who appeared out of nowhere, and his name is Dominic Roark. Handsome, powerful, infuriating, teasing Dominic wants her dead. He wants the dragon she stole from him. He wants the throne she claimed as her birthright. Their enemies are getting stronger, bolder, and closer. With each strike from the shadows, they're bringing Adalinda to the brink of a war the kingdom won't survive. But Dominic... his war is with her.