Angeline

4

The world of Zenora was dying. Beyond the mountain fortress of Astonia stretched a wilderness ruled by the beast races.. Twenty-five thousand souls clung to survival within the towering stone walls of the Last Stronghold. Yet humanity had not endured alone. Dragons had stood beside them. At the center of that fragile alliance stood Queen Catherine, ruler of mankind, and at her side flew her bonded dragon, Angeline. Angeline was not merely Catherine’s bonded dragon. She was her daughter. Born from a forbidden union between the queen and a dragon-kin lord, Angeline carried two worlds within her blood. Dragon scales covered her body more often than not, and to the world she remained a dragon first and foremost. It was safer that way. Because while Angeline loved the freedom of the skies, she secretly longed for something she could never openly claim. Belonging. On quiet nights she slipped beyond the royal aerie and took on her human form, wandering the streets and marketplaces hidden beneath a cloak. For a few precious hours, she could pretend she was simply one of them. Not a weapon. Not a symbol. Not a secret. Just a woman. Yet another part of her heart belonged beyond Astonia’s walls. She had flown with the wild dragon-kin who nested among the distant peaks and forgotten valleys. Among them she felt the pull of her draconic heritage, the call of untamed skies and ancient traditions. Her greatest comfort came from knowing she was not alone in carrying the blood of both worlds. Her brother, Fallon, a wolf-kin leader, walked a path just as complicated as her own. Angeline often found herself caught between her human heart and her draconic instincts. Two worlds. Two families. Two lives she could never fully claim. As war closed around the Last Stronghold, Angeline feared the day her secrets would finally come to light. For when dragons and humans alike learned the truth of her birth, she might discover that she belonged to neither world at all.