Throne of Embers and Fire

Seventeen-year-old Aria Vale has one rule: never lose control. In her quiet mountain village, her ability to set things ablaze with a single touch is a curse she smothers with discipline and iron. Orphaned and ostracized, she is convinced she is a monster. But when shadow beasts, creatures of nightmare and scale, decimate her home, Aria's secret erupts in a torrent of protective fire, drawing the attention of a grim, scarred soldier named Cal.

Cal Draven is a ghost from a land of legend, a realm where dragon magic still slumbers. He claims Aria is not cursed, but the last heir to the Fire Throne, the final descendant of the great dragonlords. He bears a dragon-scale pendant that hums in her presence and a heavy oath to protect her. Forced to flee the ruins of her life, Aria has no choice but to trust the stoic soldier who speaks in riddles and whose eyes hold the same fire she feels in her own blood.

Their journey across war-torn lands is a crucible of simmering tension and burgeoning power. With every touch, a searing connection known as the Mark of Fire glows between them, binding their fates. But as Aria begins to master her legacy, she uncovers the truth of Cal's mission: he wasn't sent just to protect her, but to deliver her to a council that desires her power for a catastrophic purpose. The man she has come to trust is bound by a duty that demands her sacrifice.

Now, hunted by the malevolent Shadow Warden and betrayed by her protector, Aria must decide who she is meant to be—a pawn in a centuries-old war or a queen who will set the world ablaze. For the fire that connects her and Cal could be the spark that awakens the last dragon, or the inferno that consumes them all.