Book Review: The Last Dragon King

Title: The Last Dragon King
Author: Leia Stone
Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Magic, Fiction

What Its About: Arwen comes home to Cinder Village—the last village on the outposts of the realm, carrying the largest cougarin she’s ever caught in the 9 years she has worked as a hunter since her father died.  She drops it off at her mom’s house and then goes to the wash hut run by an elderly lady, who tells her that the rates have gone up due to the war with the Nightfall Lady/ Queen. Arwen offers her the first choice of the meat from the Cougarin as a barter for the bath. The lady helps her take care of a cut she’d received during the hunt in exchange, with a type of balm. Kendal—one of the biggest gossips in town—comes with the notice that the King of their realm, Drae Caldron—is looking for a wife and will come to their village with shifters—magical folk that can sniff out other’s powers. 

Arwen’s mom calls her home, but first she gives Arwen permission to go to the May Dance, where women & men get blindfolded, and then make their way towards one another—the first person they hit, they must kiss.  Arwen has her eyes set on Nathaniel, one of the best looking guys in the village, but she kisses someone entirely different. By the time she’s pulled off her blindfold, the guy has disappeared.  She makes her way home, where her mom tells her to run to the forest—if anyone asks, she’s going on a hunting trip.  She then tells Arwen that she’s not her real birth mother—she and her husband had tried for 5 years for a child, but there was something off with his seed. Then one night, a highborn woman shows up, badly hurt and claims that she’s running away from a war.  She tells Arwen’s mother that the baby she is having has a protection spell on her that will suppress her magic, but if Arwen is ever discovered and the suppression lifts, she will be killed.  Then she died as a result of the childbirth, and Arwen was raised as this woman’s own child.  The mother reveals that Arwen’s sister is the result of her lying with another man, with permission from her husband in case there was something wrong with his seed. 

Arwen takes her hunting pack, and heads out for one of the side exits that isn’t being monitored because the townspeople are busy with the Royal Guard. She is caught by a hooded figure, who asks her where she is going. She tells him that she’s going hunting and then recognizes the insignia on his breastplate—the man is one of the Draykan, a subset of the Royal Guard that works directly for the king.  He calls over Regina Wayfeather—the only woman in the Royal Guard, and she reveals that he is King Drae.  The two of them walk Arwen over to the sniffers, and the twins who are the sniffers tell that she has a more potent magic than Kendal, but less than a girl from a neighboring town. Ultimately, they take both women and in her farewell, while packing, Arwen’s mom makes her promise that if she can’t be freed of this, that at least she makes the king fallen love with her so that she may live. 

The contingent stops at a nearby town for the night, but are woken in the middle because the Nightfall queen has attacked.  Drae transforms into a dragon and takes both Kendal and Arwen on his back to fly towards the Jade City—the Capital.  En route, Kendal keeps passing out but Arwen rises to the challenge when they are attacked by men with a winged contraption on their backs.  When they arrive in the City, Drae transforms back into a man, then says that if he doesn’t marry her, Arwen needs to at least fight as part of his Royal Guard. Arewn gets shown to her room and meets her lady-in-waiting, Narine, but the ladies get off to a bad start as Arwen says she wants no chance at winning the prince’s hand.  Then she overhears Narine tell another lady-in-waiting that there’s no way that she’ll win the prize money. Arwen asks her about it and Narine tells her that she’s trying to get together 100 jade coins to pay for her sister’s wedding—she’s the one responsible for them both, and her parents died some time back. Narine explains to Arwen that if their lady is chosen to be the Queen, they would get 100 jade coins. Arwen strikes a deal with her—she will wear each dress made for her once, and then will hand them to Narine to sell, as long as Narine can find buyers for the dresses—in order to help her pay for the wedding. Arwen also tells her that she will wear trousers when not going to official events. 

Arwen feels sick and gets a fever, so Narine goes for the doctor and the doctor ended up carrying a burning Arwen into the tub, where Arwen exploded. Drae is confused by that, and the Doctor, who is an elf-dragon hybrid tells him that Arwen smells of shellwork, one that had been used to conceal Arwen’s powers, which suddenly fell away.  The doctor also tells him that Arwen should be a top contender for someone to carry his child because she smells pure-blooded, which is impossible according to Drae. When Arwen wakes  up 2 days later, Narine tells her that she has a lunch date with the King, so Arwen dresses up in her trousers. 

The date goes well and Drae admits that he can be himself with her. They talk about Queen Amelia, his wife who passed away in Childbirth and that they were betrothed since birth. Arwen tells him about her life as a hunter, and he asks her about the spell, but she evades the answer. He tells her that he’ll need to teach her how to control her magic.  They then shoot at archery in his garden. When Arwen wants chocolate on their date, they raid the kitchen and keep talking there until someone interrupts them due to an emergency in Grim Hollow. 

Two days after that, they have a ball for all the contenders, where the women officially meet the King, and Narine brings a beautiful emerald dress fit for a queen, and makes up Arwen’s hair beautifully with jewels. The King shows up at the ball and gives the news that while there have been skirmishes, they are under control and then announces that they will pull the women out of the room in groups of five to test their magic.  If they leave, they will get their 500 jade coins even though they won’t stay to the next moon. Drae asks Arwen to dance with him at the ball and then starts asking about her parents. Arwen sees him testing for lies and asks him if he’s trying to get to know her or interrogate her.  Arwen asks him—after he admits that he likes her and is interested in her but cannot understand how she’s capable of so much magic—why he’s looking for an heir so badly that he’d date 100 women at once when his wife has barely been dead 1 winter. Drae shuts down and Arwen realizes her mistake in asking the question. Ultimately, Joslyn, Kendal and Arwen are brought in to do a test, which consists of placing their hand on a stone that will pull out their magic.  Arwen goes last, and she not only has the strongest magic, but she also sprouts wings on her back. King Caldron orders everyone to seize Arwen, but the doctor pleads with him that Arwen is scared.  He tells the doctor that the first thing that Arwen said to him is a lie, so he cannot trust her. 

Arwen is thrown in a cell, while the king investigates her for treason. Drae eventually shoes up and tells her that he wants to question her, so he lets her get cleaned up.  Narine helps Arwen take a bath and tells her that most of the girls are on their way home; then she questions Arwen as to why there’s a treason charge.  Arwen tells her what happened, to which Narine tells her that only full-blooded royals can transform. Narine then tells her the story about the Lost Royal—a few centuries ago there were 2 royal dragon families: The Dark Night Dragon clan of which King Caldron is a part, and the Eclipse dragon clan that reside in Cinder Mountain. Narine tells Arwen that the Queen of Eclipse went to war with the Dark Night Clan and nearly slaughtered them all with her special type of magic, which enabled her to steal other dragon-folk’s magic and merge it with hers. Hence she was called “King Killer,” and ultimately the Queen was killed but her daughter went into hiding with her husband at the time of King Valdren’s great-great grandfather. Narine believes that Arwen may be the Lost Queen of the Eclipse Clan. 

Regina walks Arwen to meet the King and tells her that Drae is not an irrational person—he has a reason for everything but Arwen asks her to tell her mother and Adeline that she loves them. Arwen goes into the room, sits down as commanded and tells Drae the truth—she has known about her being different since the day he came to take her away.  He asks her what her mother had told her and Arwen asks him to first tell her something so that she may gain trust in him.  She asks him the same question as the one at the ball and he tells her that his magic is tied to the dragon-folk and each day that he doesn’t produce an heir to strengthen and double their magic, his people and he gets weaker.  Soon enough, he won’t be able to transform and his people will lose their magic. Satisfied with his answer, Arwen tells him what her mother had said. Drae realizes that eighteen winters ago, his grandfather had perished fighting a threat to the crown. He claims that her mom is right, and he should kill her.  When Arwen argues that she’s done nothing wrong, he asks her if she doesn’t know what she can do to him and the dragon folk. She replies that she doesn’t, so Drae reveals that she is the lost queen of the Eclipse Dragon Clan and has magic so powerful that it can kill him and all of his dragon-folk that are connected to him. He also reveals that spies showed that her people made an agreement with the Nightfall Queen to eradicate his people. Drae reveals that his great-great grandfather killed the Eclipse Dragon Queen, but that did not kill her people because that clan’s magic does not need heirs for power. 

Arwen puts the events together to realize that the plague was really her great-great grandmother taking magic from the Dragon folk and leaving them to ashes. She gets upset and starts smoking out of her nostril, to which Drae tells her she needs to calm down. Once she calms, Drae tells her that he’ll decide if she should be killed and she tells him, “my king, I wouldn’t ever hurt you or your people,” which takes him by surprise. Then she calls him an idiot because if she kills him, she also kills her sister, to which he responds that he’s an idiot for liking her. She replies that she likes him back, and then kisses him, realizing that he was the one that kissed her at the kissing tent in Cinder Village.  Drae then tells her that he’s cleared her of treason and she’s free to wander the castle and the city but she’s not to leave it until he decides what to do with her. 

After being returned to her room, and Narine leaves to deal with the buyer regarding Arwen’s destroyed dress, Arwen takes a walk and overhears a conversation between Drae and his advisors—the Doctor thinks that Arwen has the most magic, but they don’t know what a Dark Night Dragon and Eclipse Dragon might result in, making Joslyn the safest choice. A man speaks up to remind Drae of what Arwen can do and to get rid of her, which makes Drae ask him if that was the same advice he had given to his grandfather that resulted in the man getting killed. There’s no response. Ultimately, Drae settles on Joslyn and tells them he will deal with Arwen. Arwen tries to run after this, thinking that Drae will kill her and when he catches up to her, she tries to stab him. He tells her the news and that his advisors said he cannot allow her to go home.  Arwen tells him that he has to kill her and he admits that he never can do that—instead, he offers her a position on the Royal Guard. Arwen eagerly accepts and when he reminds her that she is a queen but will become a part of his guards for life, Arwen responds that she’s a hunter looking out for her family—where he tells her to go, she’ll go. She then asks him for the salary and he tells her it’s 100 jade coins per moon, so she asks him for an advance so that she can give it to Narine for her sister’s wedding. Drae is surprised by her generosity but gives her the money, and at first Narine tries to decline it but ultimately she goes ahead with taking it and takes a day off to sort out the wedding items. 

Arwen does her oath swearing in front of the court and the army, where Drae introduces her as a lady from the Eclipse clan. Afterwards, Regina introduces Arwen to Clayton who shows Arwen around the location. Arwen begins to train with Cal and Regina for weapons and royal guard duty, while she practices Dragon Magic with Drae.  Three weeks later, Drae tells Arwen that she needs to practice flying in front of Joslyn. Arwen is afraid because the last time she flew, she almost crashed. Drae cares about Joslyn’s well being and does make sure that she’s taken care of but he doesn’t have a look of adoration for her. Drae takes Arwen flying to a grove surrounded by weeping willows, where Queen Amelia and their four children are buried.  Arwen helps him put flowers on their grave, and he admits to her that he doesn’t love Joslyn, and insinuates that he could have chosen Arwen, but she tells him she can’t. He suggests it’s for the best, as he can’t be destroyed when they die if he doesn’t love them, which shows Arwen just how much pain he’s in from the death of Amelia and their children.  They fly back, Joslyn cheers on her and when she watches Drae and Joslyn interact, she realizes that she wants Drae.  Arwen heads out, finds Cal who has been flirting with her for the past three weeks and kisses him—but it’s nothing earth shattering for her the way it has been with Drae. Cal then reveals that Drae had told everyone in the Royal Guard that no one may have Arwen as she’s his backup in case something happens to Joslyn. That evening Joslyn comes to Arwen and they take a walk, where Joslyn reveals that Drae will never love her and that he had told her it will be a marriage of convenience, so if she wants out, she can leave. Joslyn decides to stay, and Arwen begins to tell her a story when they get interrupted by a man who steps up to Joslyn wearing the winged contraption and another man steps up to Arwen. The first man slices Joslyn’s neck, and a 3rd man steps out telling the two that they should kill Arwen too as she is the spare—the other two men reveal that 3rd man’s name is Bonner. Arwen realizes what is happening and explodes in magic. 

Arwen is awakened by Drae and tells him that Bonner betrayed him. Drae takes her up to his room and has the Doctor check her. Arwen starts to shiver so dare cuddles up with her because they’re running out of time and uses his dragon magic to warm her up. Once she is warmed up, Regina asks Drae how he will retaliate and he tells her that since the Nightfall Queen took his opportunity for an heir, he’s going to kill one of hers.  Arwen catches up with Drae and tells him that she will fight for Joslyn’s honor. She tell him that Joslyn would’ve stayed with him and do her duty even if he never loved her. Drae tells her that he told Joslyn he couldn’t love her because he’d fallen for another and reveals that it’s Arwen. He kisses her and when they break apart, she tells him that she’s too good to be anyone’s backup plan, which hurts him. Regina urges them to make a decision and Arwen agrees to take Regina on her back. 

They fly to Nightfall and Drae goes to assassinate the son with 2 of his men, while Regina and Arwen find another mode of transport. The assassination goes according to plan up until Drae falls out of the window, and they ride with the group as far as they can go.  Drae grabs 2 men and gets them over the wall, but ceases answering Arwen’s calls for help when she gets stuck behind the wall holding Cal and Regina.  Regina lets go, telling Arwen to get the king home, give him an heir and save their people. Regina fights for as long as she can before she is decapitated but it’s enough time for Arwen to get out with Cal.  When Arwen finds Drae, he realizes that she’s poisoned and he tells the men to find their own way home while he takes her to King Raife—the elf king—who heals her in exchange for Drae’s assistance in killing the Nightfall Queen. Drae gives Arwen some background on Raife’s request—his parents had thought that the Nightfall Queen needed to be stopped and Raife had destroyed on of her gadgets. In retaliation, the Queen killed Raife’s entire family, leaving him only alive.  Drae’s parents denied Raife’s request out of fear and Drae was over come with grief at the loss of his father, and trying to get an heir, so he didn’t help.  Drae then admits to Arwen that she has always been his first choice, ever since she saw her bring her cougarin hung and that he peeked in the kissing tent, so he jumped in when he saw another guy making his way to Arwen and kissed her instead. He then asks her to marry him and Arwen says yes, but then reminds him that they shouldn’t have a child because of so many unknowns.  He tells her that their child will be a blessing. Arwen flies Drae and her back to Jade City and Drae meets with the Doctor and the old man while Arwen shifts.  Drae then gives her the news based on research that the Doctor has done—a thousand winters before, a royal birth between the Eclipse and the Dark Night Dragons Clan resulted in a severely deformed baby that died hours later.  The Doctor had called back the women with the next highest magic capacities.  Arwen tells him that he shouldn’t marry her as they can’t have children, but Drae tells her that he wants her and he can lie with other women to get his heir, but he wants to spend time with her.  Arwen struggles with this at first, and runs to the grave where Amelia and the four children are buried.  It breaks her heart because she wants to be a mom too, and after reflecting on how no one should lose a child, and how her father let her mother lie with another man to have a child, she decides to give it a chance. 

Regina and Joslyn are laid to rest—the Nightfall queen had sent Regina’s head as a message but does not retaliate in any way.  Arwen gets dressed for her wedding by Narine and then sees her mom and sister, who had come to the Jade City for this.  After hugging, Adeline, Arwen lets her go with Narine, and then she tells her mom the truth about Drae and her marriage—they love each other but they won’t be able to have children because of that entry the Doctor found in the books, and that Drae has to have an heir because of his magic, so he’ll have to bed three women. As expected, her mom tells her that she has to do what she has to as she has a duty to the people of Embergate. Once both her mom and sister have left her room, Arwen calls Drae and tells him the ground rules: Do not tell her, bathe after visiting them, Kendal is the last resort and to try the other two first. Drae confides in her that he doesn’t know if he can go through with it and Arwen tells him that he must because it is bigger than them. She then realizes that she’ll never be a mom, and Drae offers for her to bed a different man so that she can fulfill her dream—Cal would be a perfect candidate, according to Drae. Arwen knows that she will not be able to go through with it but she admits to him, when he asks, that she does not see a life without him, even if there will be sorrow in their future. They get married and share their first night in bed together, but when he pulls out, Arwen realizes that he will share that moment with other women as well.  At that moment, she realizes that she’s not okay with the arrangement.  They end up making love two more times the next morning and then head for lunch, but before they can make it to the dining room, guards run in to say that the Nightfall Queen has taken the Middle Bridge, and their army is barely able to keep her back.  Drae tells Arwen to stay back, but she tells him that she is still part of the Royal Guard sworn to protect him, so that is what she will do.  Arwen is able to shift, but Drake is unable to do so, horrifyingly realizing what this means. Arwen orders him to grab a bow and arrow and to get on her back in her saddle.  She also tells Drae that his people should not question their king and why he is not in his dragon form. 

Arwen takes off into the air after Drae barks orders at his soldiers and once they get close to the Middle Bridge, she orders him around. Arwen tries to attack the Nightfall queen, but does not realize the queen’s strength, and is forced to roll in mid air to avoid being hit by a projectile.  Drae then tells Arwen to burn the Nightfall Queen’s forests, in order to take some of her land if she wants to take their bridge. Arwen does just that, which forces the queen to retreat as the fire spreads quickly through the forest. They return to the Jade city and the Doctor check both of them, but they are fine.  Then Arwen tells her that Drae’s magic is dying—which Drae finishes for her because she can’t utter it.  The Doctor tells him that he knows what he has to do, and it has to be done tonight.  This breaks Arwen’s heart, and when he tells her that he doesn’t want to, she responds that he must do it—while she looks at her sister.  Arwen then tells him that she will die that evening with her sister and her mom.  Unfortunately, throughout the dinner, Arwen is distracted and when she returns to her room, she continues to pace upset, because the idea of Drae being in another woman’s bed daily upsets her.  She throws a teacup and smashes it in her anger, when suddenly Drae bangs open the door and tells her that he can’t and won’t do this.  He tells her that he wants a child with her and that he will love whatever child they have together for however long they have him.  He tells her that the note on the royal birth from a thousand winters ago could have been that one child of the couple that had these issues, but for all they know they may have had five other totally healthy children—they just don’t know.  Arwen asks him if it will strengthen his magic even if the child lives for a moment and Drae tells her that it strengthens a bit when she gets pregnant and fully at birth. 

Nine moons later, Arwen is in the throes of childbirth pain. Drae is besides himself, worrying that he’ll lose Arwen, and Arwen’s mother has to comfort him.  Arwen pushes out a baby girl and watches as a golden glow drops from the ceiling into the child.  Drae has been preparing himself to lose Arwen, telling her that he has loved her and when the baby is born, he doesn’t look up, fearing that it will be gone. Arwen starts crying when she sees her perfect baby and only when the baby wails, Drae’s head snaps up.  He then breaks down emotionally and sobs—he has a healthy daughter and his wife is still alive.  Arwen’s mom goes to hand her the baby, when Arwen feels pressure build up between her legs again, and so Arwen’s mom hands the baby to Drae, who is now worried again that he will lose Arwen as this is not normal. Her mom tells him that it’s probably the afterbirth, but when she looks at Arwen, she screams to push.  Then a second cry splits the room, and both parents are shocked—they have twin girls, something rare that isn’t known until the birth.  Arwen tells him, once she’s handed the second twin that she wants to name them Regina and Joslyn, to which Drae agrees. The two cuddle a bit with the girls, and Drae comments to Arwen that he can feel the magic coursing through him is very strong. They are interrupted by Cal, who congratulates them, and then tells Drae that there is an Urgent matter—King Raife Lightstone is in Drae’s study.  Arwen tells him to go, knowing that Raife saved her and it must be important if he was there. Drae hands Regina to Arwen’s home, gives them all a smile and heads out. 

As he walks to his study, Drae admits that he had wanted to marry Arwen the first time he saw her—when she carried that cougarin.  He doesn’t want to leave her after the birth of their children and Raife knows that Arwen was due soon as he’d sent a gift basket, so something must be really wrong if he’s here. Drae reflects on how long he’s known Raife, and Raife’s requests to avenge his family over the years. He couldn’t go into war after his dad died because he didn’t have heirs, but now that he has two, if Raife asks, he would definitely go to war.  Drae steps into his study and the two men share news about the birth of the girls as well as Congratulating each other since Raife had gotten married—Arwen and Drae couldn’t attend the wedding due to her pregnancy.  Raife then tells him that he has some intel for Drae that he couldn’t give via courier.  Before he hears the information, Drae remembers Amelia and how’d they had always known they were betrothed but once Amelia had asked him what kind of woman he’d desire if he wasn’t betrothed to her.  Drae, at twelve years old, told her that his dream woman would have hair like moonlight, she’d want to haunt via bow and arrow with him and his friends, wouldn’t fuss over dresses and fashion, and would eat normally.  Amelia had laughed at him then, but he wishes that she was here to see Arwen, who is literally the person he had described at the time.  Raife then tells him that the Nightfall Queen has come up with a new Machine that strips a person of their magic, making them human.  Raife asks him to help him tell Lucien and Axil, the other two Kings of the supernatural kingdoms about this.  Apparently Raife tried to meet with Lucien, who in turn nearly killed him because Raife once slept with the love of Lucien’s life.  They will need Lucien’s help to speak to Axil, who liked Lucien best of their group of 4.  Drae asks for a week to spend with his family, and then he will meet Raife in Thorngate—to talk to Lucien—this is after Raife reveals that the Nightfall Queen has attempted to poison him again.  

Arwen comes home to Cinder Village—the last village on the outposts of the realm, carrying the largest cougarin she’s ever caught in the 9 years she has worked as a hunter since her father died.  She drops it off at her mom’s house and then goes to the wash hut run by an elderly lady, who tells her that the rates have gone up due to the war with the Nightfall Lady/ Queen. Arwen offers her the first choice of the meat from the Cougarin as a barter for the bath. The lady helps her take care of a cut she’d received during the hunt in exchange, with a type of balm. Kendal—one of the biggest gossips in town—comes with the notice that the King of their realm, Drae Caldron—is looking for a wife and will come to their village with shifters—magical folk that can sniff out other’s powers. 

Arwen’s mom calls her home, but first she gives Arwen permission to go to the May Dance, where women & men get blindfolded, and then make their way towards one another—the first person they hit, they must kiss.  Arwen has her eyes set on Nathaniel, one of the best looking guys in the village, but she kisses someone entirely different. By the time she’s pulled off her blindfold, the guy has disappeared.  She makes her way home, where her mom tells her to run to the forest—if anyone asks, she’s going on a hunting trip.  She then tells Arwen that she’s not her real birth mother—she and her husband had tried for 5 years for a child, but there was something off with his seed. Then one night, a highborn woman shows up, badly hurt and claims that she’s running away from a war.  She tells Arwen’s mother that the baby she is having has a protection spell on her that will suppress her magic, but if Arwen is ever discovered and the suppression lifts, she will be killed.  Then she died as a result of the childbirth, and Arwen was raised as this woman’s own child.  The mother reveals that Arwen’s sister is the result of her lying with another man, with permission from her husband in case there was something wrong with his seed. 

Arwen takes her hunting pack, and heads out for one of the side exits that isn’t being monitored because the townspeople are busy with the Royal Guard. She is caught by a hooded figure, who asks her where she is going. She tells him that she’s going hunting and then recognizes the insignia on his breastplate—the man is one of the Draykan, a subset of the Royal Guard that works directly for the king.  He calls over Regina Wayfeather—the only woman in the Royal Guard, and she reveals that he is King Drae.  The two of them walk Arwen over to the sniffers, and the twins who are the sniffers tell that she has a more potent magic than Kendal, but less than a girl from a neighboring town. Ultimately, they take both women and in her farewell, while packing, Arwen’s mom makes her promise that if she can’t be freed of this, that at least she makes the king fallen love with her so that she may live. 

The contingent stops at a nearby town for the night, but are woken in the middle because the Nightfall queen has attacked.  Drae transforms into a dragon and takes both Kendal and Arwen on his back to fly towards the Jade City—the Capital.  En route, Kendal keeps passing out but Arwen rises to the challenge when they are attacked by men with a winged contraption on their backs.  When they arrive in the City, Drae transforms back into a man, then says that if he doesn’t marry her, Arwen needs to at least fight as part of his Royal Guard. Arewn gets shown to her room and meets her lady-in-waiting, Narine, but the ladies get off to a bad start as Arwen says she wants no chance at winning the prince’s hand.  Then she overhears Narine tell another lady-in-waiting that there’s no way that she’ll win the prize money. Arwen asks her about it and Narine tells her that she’s trying to get together 100 jade coins to pay for her sister’s wedding—she’s the one responsible for them both, and her parents died some time back. Narine explains to Arwen that if their lady is chosen to be the Queen, they would get 100 jade coins. Arwen strikes a deal with her—she will wear each dress made for her once, and then will hand them to Narine to sell, as long as Narine can find buyers for the dresses—in order to help her pay for the wedding. Arwen also tells her that she will wear trousers when not going to official events. 

Arwen feels sick and gets a fever, so Narine goes for the doctor and the doctor ended up carrying a burning Arwen into the tub, where Arwen exploded. Drae is confused by that, and the Doctor, who is an elf-dragon hybrid tells him that Arwen smells of shellwork, one that had been used to conceal Arwen’s powers, which suddenly fell away.  The doctor also tells him that Arwen should be a top contender for someone to carry his child because she smells pure-blooded, which is impossible according to Drae. When Arwen wakes  up 2 days later, Narine tells her that she has a lunch date with the King, so Arwen dresses up in her trousers. 

The date goes well and Drae admits that he can be himself with her. They talk about Queen Amelia, his wife who passed away in Childbirth and that they were betrothed since birth. Arwen tells him about her life as a hunter, and he asks her about the spell, but she evades the answer. He tells her that he’ll need to teach her how to control her magic.  They then shoot at archery in his garden. When Arwen wants chocolate on their date, they raid the kitchen and keep talking there until someone interrupts them due to an emergency in Grim Hollow. 

Two days after that, they have a ball for all the contenders, where the women officially meet the King, and Narine brings a beautiful emerald dress fit for a queen, and makes up Arwen’s hair beautifully with jewels. The King shows up at the ball and gives the news that while there have been skirmishes, they are under control and then announces that they will pull the women out of the room in groups of five to test their magic.  If they leave, they will get their 500 jade coins even though they won’t stay to the next moon. Drae asks Arwen to dance with him at the ball and then starts asking about her parents. Arwen sees him testing for lies and asks him if he’s trying to get to know her or interrogate her.  Arwen asks him—after he admits that he likes her and is interested in her but cannot understand how she’s capable of so much magic—why he’s looking for an heir so badly that he’d date 100 women at once when his wife has barely been dead 1 winter. Drae shuts down and Arwen realizes her mistake in asking the question. Ultimately, Joslyn, Kendal and Arwen are brought in to do a test, which consists of placing their hand on a stone that will pull out their magic.  Arwen goes last, and she not only has the strongest magic, but she also sprouts wings on her back. King Caldron orders everyone to seize Arwen, but the doctor pleads with him that Arwen is scared.  He tells the doctor that the first thing that Arwen said to him is a lie, so he cannot trust her. 

Arwen is thrown in a cell, while the king investigates her for treason. Drae eventually shoes up and tells her that he wants to question her, so he lets her get cleaned up.  Narine helps Arwen take a bath and tells her that most of the girls are on their way home; then she questions Arwen as to why there’s a treason charge.  Arwen tells her what happened, to which Narine tells her that only full-blooded royals can transform. Narine then tells her the story about the Lost Royal—a few centuries ago there were 2 royal dragon families: The Dark Night Dragon clan of which King Caldron is a part, and the Eclipse dragon clan that reside in Cinder Mountain. Narine tells Arwen that the Queen of Eclipse went to war with the Dark Night Clan and nearly slaughtered them all with her special type of magic, which enabled her to steal other dragon-folk’s magic and merge it with hers. Hence she was called “King Killer,” and ultimately the Queen was killed but her daughter went into hiding with her husband at the time of King Valdren’s great-great grandfather. Narine believes that Arwen may be the Lost Queen of the Eclipse Clan. 

Regina walks Arwen to meet the King and tells her that Drae is not an irrational person—he has a reason for everything but Arwen asks her to tell her mother and Adeline that she loves them. Arwen goes into the room, sits down as commanded and tells Drae the truth—she has known about her being different since the day he came to take her away.  He asks her what her mother had told her and Arwen asks him to first tell her something so that she may gain trust in him.  She asks him the same question as the one at the ball and he tells her that his magic is tied to the dragon-folk and each day that he doesn’t produce an heir to strengthen and double their magic, his people and he gets weaker.  Soon enough, he won’t be able to transform and his people will lose their magic. Satisfied with his answer, Arwen tells him what her mother had said. Drae realizes that eighteen winters ago, his grandfather had perished fighting a threat to the crown. He claims that her mom is right, and he should kill her.  When Arwen argues that she’s done nothing wrong, he asks her if she doesn’t know what she can do to him and the dragon folk. She replies that she doesn’t, so Drae reveals that she is the lost queen of the Eclipse Dragon Clan and has magic so powerful that it can kill him and all of his dragon-folk that are connected to him. He also reveals that spies showed that her people made an agreement with the Nightfall Queen to eradicate his people. Drae reveals that his great-great grandfather killed the Eclipse Dragon Queen, but that did not kill her people because that clan’s magic does not need heirs for power. 

Arwen puts the events together to realize that the plague was really her great-great grandmother taking magic from the Dragon folk and leaving them to ashes. She gets upset and starts smoking out of her nostril, to which Drae tells her she needs to calm down. Once she calms, Drae tells her that he’ll decide if she should be killed and she tells him, “my king, I wouldn’t ever hurt you or your people,” which takes him by surprise. Then she calls him an idiot because if she kills him, she also kills her sister, to which he responds that he’s an idiot for liking her. She replies that she likes him back, and then kisses him, realizing that he was the one that kissed her at the kissing tent in Cinder Village.  Drae then tells her that he’s cleared her of treason and she’s free to wander the castle and the city but she’s not to leave it until he decides what to do with her. 

After being returned to her room, and Narine leaves to deal with the buyer regarding Arwen’s destroyed dress, Arwen takes a walk and overhears a conversation between Drae and his advisors—the Doctor thinks that Arwen has the most magic, but they don’t know what a Dark Night Dragon and Eclipse Dragon might result in, making Joslyn the safest choice. A man speaks up to remind Drae of what Arwen can do and to get rid of her, which makes Drae ask him if that was the same advice he had given to his grandfather that resulted in the man getting killed. There’s no response. Ultimately, Drae settles on Joslyn and tells them he will deal with Arwen. Arwen tries to run after this, thinking that Drae will kill her and when he catches up to her, she tries to stab him. He tells her the news and that his advisors said he cannot allow her to go home.  Arwen tells him that he has to kill her and he admits that he never can do that—instead, he offers her a position on the Royal Guard. Arwen eagerly accepts and when he reminds her that she is a queen but will become a part of his guards for life, Arwen responds that she’s a hunter looking out for her family—where he tells her to go, she’ll go. She then asks him for the salary and he tells her it’s 100 jade coins per moon, so she asks him for an advance so that she can give it to Narine for her sister’s wedding. Drae is surprised by her generosity but gives her the money, and at first Narine tries to decline it but ultimately she goes ahead with taking it and takes a day off to sort out the wedding items. 

Arwen does her oath swearing in front of the court and the army, where Drae introduces her as a lady from the Eclipse clan. Afterwards, Regina introduces Arwen to Clayton who shows Arwen around the location. Arwen begins to train with Cal and Regina for weapons and royal guard duty, while she practices Dragon Magic with Drae.  Three weeks later, Drae tells Arwen that she needs to practice flying in front of Joslyn. Arwen is afraid because the last time she flew, she almost crashed. Drae cares about Joslyn’s well being and does make sure that she’s taken care of but he doesn’t have a look of adoration for her. Drae takes Arwen flying to a grove surrounded by weeping willows, where Queen Amelia and their four children are buried.  Arwen helps him put flowers on their grave, and he admits to her that he doesn’t love Joslyn, and insinuates that he could have chosen Arwen, but she tells him she can’t. He suggests it’s for the best, as he can’t be destroyed when they die if he doesn’t love them, which shows Arwen just how much pain he’s in from the death of Amelia and their children.  They fly back, Joslyn cheers on her and when she watches Drae and Joslyn interact, she realizes that she wants Drae.  Arwen heads out, finds Cal who has been flirting with her for the past three weeks and kisses him—but it’s nothing earth shattering for her the way it has been with Drae. Cal then reveals that Drae had told everyone in the Royal Guard that no one may have Arwen as she’s his backup in case something happens to Joslyn. That evening Joslyn comes to Arwen and they take a walk, where Joslyn reveals that Drae will never love her and that he had told her it will be a marriage of convenience, so if she wants out, she can leave. Joslyn decides to stay, and Arwen begins to tell her a story when they get interrupted by a man who steps up to Joslyn wearing the winged contraption and another man steps up to Arwen. The first man slices Joslyn’s neck, and a 3rd man steps out telling the two that they should kill Arwen too as she is the spare—the other two men reveal that 3rd man’s name is Bonner. Arwen realizes what is happening and explodes in magic. 

Arwen is awakened by Drae and tells him that Bonner betrayed him. Drae takes her up to his room and has the Doctor check her. Arwen starts to shiver so dare cuddles up with her because they’re running out of time and uses his dragon magic to warm her up. Once she is warmed up, Regina asks Drae how he will retaliate and he tells her that since the Nightfall Queen took his opportunity for an heir, he’s going to kill one of hers.  Arwen catches up with Drae and tells him that she will fight for Joslyn’s honor. She tell him that Joslyn would’ve stayed with him and do her duty even if he never loved her. Drae tells her that he told Joslyn he couldn’t love her because he’d fallen for another and reveals that it’s Arwen. He kisses her and when they break apart, she tells him that she’s too good to be anyone’s backup plan, which hurts him. Regina urges them to make a decision and Arwen agrees to take Regina on her back. 

They fly to Nightfall and Drae goes to assassinate the son with 2 of his men, while Regina and Arwen find another mode of transport. The assassination goes according to plan up until Drae falls out of the window, and they ride with the group as far as they can go.  Drae grabs 2 men and gets them over the wall, but ceases answering Arwen’s calls for help when she gets stuck behind the wall holding Cal and Regina.  Regina lets go, telling Arwen to get the king home, give him an heir and save their people. Regina fights for as long as she can before she is decapitated but it’s enough time for Arwen to get out with Cal.  When Arwen finds Drae, he realizes that she’s poisoned and he tells the men to find their own way home while he takes her to King Raife—the elf king—who heals her in exchange for Drae’s assistance in killing the Nightfall Queen. Drae gives Arwen some background on Raife’s request—his parents had thought that the Nightfall Queen needed to be stopped and Raife had destroyed on of her gadgets. In retaliation, the Queen killed Raife’s entire family, leaving him only alive.  Drae’s parents denied Raife’s request out of fear and Drae was over come with grief at the loss of his father, and trying to get an heir, so he didn’t help.  Drae then admits to Arwen that she has always been his first choice, ever since she saw her bring her cougarin hung and that he peeked in the kissing tent, so he jumped in when he saw another guy making his way to Arwen and kissed her instead. He then asks her to marry him and Arwen says yes, but then reminds him that they shouldn’t have a child because of so many unknowns.  He tells her that their child will be a blessing. Arwen flies Drae and her back to Jade City and Drae meets with the Doctor and the old man while Arwen shifts.  Drae then gives her the news based on research that the Doctor has done—a thousand winters before, a royal birth between the Eclipse and the Dark Night Dragons Clan resulted in a severely deformed baby that died hours later.  The Doctor had called back the women with the next highest magic capacities.  Arwen tells him that he shouldn’t marry her as they can’t have children, but Drae tells her that he wants her and he can lie with other women to get his heir, but he wants to spend time with her.  Arwen struggles with this at first, and runs to the grave where Amelia and the four children are buried.  It breaks her heart because she wants to be a mom too, and after reflecting on how no one should lose a child, and how her father let her mother lie with another man to have a child, she decides to give it a chance. 

Regina and Joslyn are laid to rest—the Nightfall queen had sent Regina’s head as a message but does not retaliate in any way.  Arwen gets dressed for her wedding by Narine and then sees her mom and sister, who had come to the Jade City for this.  After hugging, Adeline, Arwen lets her go with Narine, and then she tells her mom the truth about Drae and her marriage—they love each other but they won’t be able to have children because of that entry the Doctor found in the books, and that Drae has to have an heir because of his magic, so he’ll have to bed three women. As expected, her mom tells her that she has to do what she has to as she has a duty to the people of Embergate. Once both her mom and sister have left her room, Arwen calls Drae and tells him the ground rules: Do not tell her, bathe after visiting them, Kendal is the last resort and to try the other two first. Drae confides in her that he doesn’t know if he can go through with it and Arwen tells him that he must because it is bigger than them. She then realizes that she’ll never be a mom, and Drae offers for her to bed a different man so that she can fulfill her dream—Cal would be a perfect candidate, according to Drae. Arwen knows that she will not be able to go through with it but she admits to him, when he asks, that she does not see a life without him, even if there will be sorrow in their future. They get married and share their first night in bed together, but when he pulls out, Arwen realizes that he will share that moment with other women as well.  At that moment, she realizes that she’s not okay with the arrangement.  They end up making love two more times the next morning and then head for lunch, but before they can make it to the dining room, guards run in to say that the Nightfall Queen has taken the Middle Bridge, and their army is barely able to keep her back.  Drae tells Arwen to stay back, but she tells him that she is still part of the Royal Guard sworn to protect him, so that is what she will do.  Arwen is able to shift, but Drake is unable to do so, horrifyingly realizing what this means. Arwen orders him to grab a bow and arrow and to get on her back in her saddle.  She also tells Drae that his people should not question their king and why he is not in his dragon form. 

Arwen takes off into the air after Drae barks orders at his soldiers and once they get close to the Middle Bridge, she orders him around. Arwen tries to attack the Nightfall queen, but does not realize the queen’s strength, and is forced to roll in mid air to avoid being hit by a projectile.  Drae then tells Arwen to burn the Nightfall Queen’s forests, in order to take some of her land if she wants to take their bridge. Arwen does just that, which forces the queen to retreat as the fire spreads quickly through the forest. They return to the Jade city and the Doctor check both of them, but they are fine.  Then Arwen tells her that Drae’s magic is dying—which Drae finishes for her because she can’t utter it.  The Doctor tells him that he knows what he has to do, and it has to be done tonight.  This breaks Arwen’s heart, and when he tells her that he doesn’t want to, she responds that he must do it—while she looks at her sister.  Arwen then tells him that she will die that evening with her sister and her mom.  Unfortunately, throughout the dinner, Arwen is distracted and when she returns to her room, she continues to pace upset, because the idea of Drae being in another woman’s bed daily upsets her.  She throws a teacup and smashes it in her anger, when suddenly Drae bangs open the door and tells her that he can’t and won’t do this.  He tells her that he wants a child with her and that he will love whatever child they have together for however long they have him.  He tells her that the note on the royal birth from a thousand winters ago could have been that one child of the couple that had these issues, but for all they know they may have had five other totally healthy children—they just don’t know.  Arwen asks him if it will strengthen his magic even if the child lives for a moment and Drae tells her that it strengthens a bit when she gets pregnant and fully at birth. 

Nine moons later, Arwen is in the throes of childbirth pain. Drae is besides himself, worrying that he’ll lose Arwen, and Arwen’s mother has to comfort him.  Arwen pushes out a baby girl and watches as a golden glow drops from the ceiling into the child.  Drae has been preparing himself to lose Arwen, telling her that he has loved her and when the baby is born, he doesn’t look up, fearing that it will be gone. Arwen starts crying when she sees her perfect baby and only when the baby wails, Drae’s head snaps up.  He then breaks down emotionally and sobs—he has a healthy daughter and his wife is still alive.  Arwen’s mom goes to hand her the baby, when Arwen feels pressure build up between her legs again, and so Arwen’s mom hands the baby to Drae, who is now worried again that he will lose Arwen as this is not normal. Her mom tells him that it’s probably the afterbirth, but when she looks at Arwen, she screams to push.  Then a second cry splits the room, and both parents are shocked—they have twin girls, something rare that isn’t known until the birth.  Arwen tells him, once she’s handed the second twin that she wants to name them Regina and Joslyn, to which Drae agrees. The two cuddle a bit with the girls, and Drae comments to Arwen that he can feel the magic coursing through him is very strong. They are interrupted by Cal, who congratulates them, and then tells Drae that there is an Urgent matter—King Raife Lightstone is in Drae’s study.  Arwen tells him to go, knowing that Raife saved her and it must be important if he was there. Drae hands Regina to Arwen’s home, gives them all a smile and heads out. 

As he walks to his study, Drae admits that he had wanted to marry Arwen the first time he saw her—when she carried that cougarin.  He doesn’t want to leave her after the birth of their children and Raife knows that Arwen was due soon as he’d sent a gift basket, so something must be really wrong if he’s here. Drae reflects on how long he’s known Raife, and Raife’s requests to avenge his family over the years. He couldn’t go into war after his dad died because he didn’t have heirs, but now that he has two, if Raife asks, he would definitely go to war.  Drae steps into his study and the two men share news about the birth of the girls as well as Congratulating each other since Raife had gotten married—Arwen and Drae couldn’t attend the wedding due to her pregnancy.  Raife then tells him that he has some intel for Drae that he couldn’t give via courier.  Before he hears the information, Drae remembers Amelia and how’d they had always known they were betrothed but once Amelia had asked him what kind of woman he’d desire if he wasn’t betrothed to her.  Drae, at twelve years old, told her that his dream woman would have hair like moonlight, she’d want to haunt via bow and arrow with him and his friends, wouldn’t fuss over dresses and fashion, and would eat normally.  Amelia had laughed at him then, but he wishes that she was here to see Arwen, who is literally the person he had described at the time.  Raife then tells him that the Nightfall Queen has come up with a new Machine that strips a person of their magic, making them human.  Raife asks him to help him tell Lucien and Axil, the other two Kings of the supernatural kingdoms about this.  Apparently Raife tried to meet with Lucien, who in turn nearly killed him because Raife once slept with the love of Lucien’s life.  They will need Lucien’s help to speak to Axil, who liked Lucien best of their group of 4.  Drae asks for a week to spend with his family, and then he will meet Raife in Thorngate—to talk to Lucien—this is after Raife reveals that the Nightfall Queen has attempted to poison him again.  

My Thoughts: This was a book recommended through Kindle Unlimited, and I figured why not read it because it sounded interesting. And sure enough I was hooked on the story–I really loved some of the references to other classical stories. Cinder Village specifically made me think of Cinderella a bit, and ultimately it is a modern take on Cinderella’s story. If you think about it, Arwen has to hunt for her family because her dad died and she’s not really her parents biological daughter (maid, and step mom anyone?). She gets swept up into a ball in the Palace with the King for him to find his wife (ball dance for marriage?), and she is not really his first choice because of the advisors thinking that there will be something wrong with the children (okay at least Cinderella wins there). Still, Arwen kicks butt as a female character and a dragon. I absolutely adored her and her relationship with Drae. Since this story was meant to be a quick read, it was short and easy to get through, but if there was every an opportunity to make a longer version of this story, I would love to have more details–deepening of the relationship with Drae, heart-to-heart talks, and even her learning how to fight with the commander and the soldiers. Looking forward to the second book in the Series.