The Shadowed Crown by Lidiya Foxglove

Growing up under a curse, I never thought I would be the queen of the dragons and the mate of kings. My fate was written in a prophecy.

From the shadows, the lost ruler appears. The princess will be healed, her pain eased, by the seed of a great man who is descended from King Orvenu. This union shall bring peace to all dragon and human kind, at the time it will be needed most and thus shall we see a great age.

…but prophecies are very tricky things. My late father thought I was destined for one man: the Dragon King…without guessing more than one man might fulfill the prophecy.

There is the man I married, King Aurekdel. Although blinded in childhood, his fighting skills are honed and his charm, even more so. He cares for his people, but also has a ruthless side stirred up by his war against the enemy mist dragons.

Lord Seron, Aurek’s champion and closest companion, is a noble warrior who wants to lead the army and strive for peace, but when a family secret is revealed, he is forced into a reluctant destiny.

Ezeru was our natural foe: a rock dragon, a race of more bestial dragons. Sinister magic made him stronger and more intelligent, alienating him from his own kind. Now, he will turn against the mist dragon queen who created him…as he feels an unusual pull to me.

My head guard Oszin is the only fellow human to accompany me to the dragon kingdom. The son of farmers and the descendant of slaves, he has been devoted to me for years and been rewarded for it, but he has a rebellious streak and I fear he might risk his life for an ideal.

I am strong now, learning magic and the sword. And I am starting to understand: the union that will bring peace must begin with me, pulling together these four very different men and their different worlds. One of them will be the father of the next heir of the kingdom. My father’s weakness as a ruler was his downfall. But what makes a strong queen? The path of war or the path of peace? A mistake could cost me dearly.