The Royal Her

By Sophie Stern

My coronation day was supposed to be the most magical day of my life. After all, I've been waiting my entire life to become queen. There's no one better suited to rule over Draco Patriam - Dragon Country - than me.

If you talk to my twin sister, you'll hear a different story.

This time, Ruby has taken things too far. She's used magic to keep me out of the magical borders that surround our home.

And she's separated me from my mates: all four of them.

Hot, sexy, and completely enamored with me: my dragon-shifter mates are everything a girl could ever want, and I can't get to them because of my evil twin.

Now the clock is ticking.

I've got one year to find a way inside the magical borders that surround the castle and save my mates. Otherwise, we'll be separated for all eternity, Ruby will rule the dragon world, and me?

I'll be stuck in the human realm.

I can't let that happen.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sophie Stern
• Release date: May 16, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386525226

Book preview

The Royal Her

A Paranormal Reverse-Harem Romance

Sophie Stern

Copyright © 2018 by Sophie Stern

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

My coronation day was supposed to be the most magical day of my life. After all, I've been waiting my entire life to become queen. There's no one better suited to rule over Draco Patriam - Dragon Country - than me.

If you talk to my twin sister, you'll hear a different story.

This time, Ruby has taken things too far. She's used magic to keep me out of the magical borders that surround our home.

And she's separated me from my mates: all four of them.

Hot, sexy, and completely enamored with me: my dragon-shifter mates are everything a girl could ever want, and I can't get to them because of my evil twin.

Now the clock is ticking.

I've got one year to find a way inside the magical borders that surround the castle and save my mates. Otherwise, we'll be separated for all eternity, Ruby will rule the dragon world, and me?

I'll be stuck in the human realm.

I can't let that happen.

Prologue

Sapphire

360 Days Ago

After all of this time , my mating day is finally here.

I’ve been waiting for this day my entire life: hoping, praying, and wishing. Now I’m about to accept four wonderful men as my life-mates and I will rule Draco Patriam as the queen I am destined to be. I won’t be complacent. I won’t be hurtful. I won’t damage my people or starve them or make choices that impact them in a negative way.

No, I will be a fair queen.

A good queen.

I’ll be the queen Draco Patriam has been waiting for.

I will be its everything.

Good morning, love, Alexandra says, bursting into my room. For a maidservant, she’s quite loud, but I don’t mind. I like having her around. I like that she takes care of me, that she protects me. She’s sort of like a second mother or another sister. She is kind and thoughtful and attentive. Alexandra is all of those things and more, and I hope she stays around until the day I die to keep on taking care of me.

Alexandra, I sit up in bed, stretching.

Don’t be lazy, she says firmly. You’re about to be Queen, love. Queens don’t lie around.

My mother did, I point out, and Alexandra shakes her head and murmurs some sort of prayer or blessing. It’s only been a few days since my mother’s death. The country isn’t used to it yet, and it’s certainly not ready for a brand new queen, but we’ve already waited long enough. My mother was a good queen. She was kind and gentle, but she also believed in sleeping late and getting rest when you need it.

Alexandra doesn’t feel the same way.

Hurrying out of bed, Alexandra and I eat a quick meal together before I have to bathe and dress for the wedding. I have butterflies in my stomach, but I try to push them down. There’s no point in being nervous. Not today.

Nope.

Today is the first day of the rest of my life.

I knew today would come. Every princess gets her dragon mates. It’s just that today wasn’t supposed to happen until my 25th birthday. That’s not until next year. I was supposed to have another year before my mates and I were united as one, but then my parents... Well, let’s just say that in Draco Patriam, I can’t be a true queen without being mated. It’s one of those weird laws that doesn’t make any sense to me, but I suppose it doesn’t have to.

Alexandra helps me wash, style my hair, and dress. My gown, which is a deep royal blue, highlights all of my best features.

How long have you been working on the dress? I ask her slyly.

I don’t know what you’re talking about, Alexandra says innocently. I can’t help but smile. She and my mother were the best of friends. After my four fathers died in battle years ago, Alexandra and my mother became closer than sisters. Now, as I’m mourning her loss, I’m relieved to have someone trustworthy I can turn to during this time.

Soon it’s mid-morning.

Time for the ceremony.

Time for me to be mated to Garnet, Emerald, Moonstone, and Chrysoberyl.

Time for me to take my place as Queen of Draco Patriam.

And all I can think about is the fact that I miss my mother.

I stop in the doorway of my room for a second and grip the frame, trying to hold myself up. She shouldn’t have died. Not yet. Not my mother. It was a last minute trip to the countryside last week. The two of us were going to go and spend an afternoon picking strawberries and picnicking in the meadows. Who would have expected a worn-out bridge would be the death of her?

She fell.

My mother, the queen, and all of her closest hands, fell to their deaths while going on a picnic in the meadows.

It’s insane, and it hurts.

Now it’s my coronation day, my wedding day, and I have to face my country without my mother by my side.

If I hadn’t stumbled down the stairs that morning and twisted my ankle, I would have died, too. Mother almost stayed behind with me, but she had so been looking forward to the afternoon away that I encouraged her to go.

Told her to.

Begged her to go.

And now she’s gone.

She’s gone because I urged her to go have fun, to have an adventure, and now she’s dead and I’m about to be queen.

I’m not ready.

I’m not ready for any of this.

Sapphire, Alexandra says softly. It’s time.

I’m not ready. I shake my head, but the rest of my body is still.

It’s time, she says again, and this time, my feet manage to start moving. They carry me out of my room, down the hall, and to the wide staircase. At the top of the stairs, I pause. Alexandra comes up beside me and helps me with my dress as we move side-by-side down the stairs.

The castle is eerily silent this morning, which is unusual. Everyone must be ready for the mating ceremony.

Where’s Ruby? I ask Alexandra. My twin sister is my best friend. I want her by my side today, but I haven’t seen her yet. I’m a little disappointed she didn’t help me get ready, but Ruby has been having a hard time since our mother’s death. We both have. Hell, the whole kingdom has.

Draco Patriam is one of the most secret, hidden-away places in the world. Shrouded in magic, no mere mortal can travel here. Draco Patriam is a world of dragon shifters and mages and people like me and Ruby, who are something else entirely. I don’t like to say I’m a witch, but I do have some magic, and I plan to use it to rule Draco Patriam in a way that is fair and honest and wonderful.

Alexandra hesitates. She’s at the ceremony already, she says after a moment.

She is? That’s strange.

Why is that strange?

You know Ruby. She’s just...usually she’s a bit slow in the mornings, is all. She’s not really much of a go-getter. I thought we’d have to drag her from her bed for this thing, I chuckle, shaking my head.

My sister is ridiculous.

She would much rather leave the magical country of Drago Patriam and go explore the human world with its tech and its cars and its fashion. She doesn’t have time to sit around practicing magic or worrying about how to be a fair and just ruler.

For Ruby, life is short, and it’s meant to be lived as fast as possible.

Alexandra doesn’t say anything and I’m not really sure why, but I ignore it. I’m just being overly sensitive and a little bit awkward because it’s my mating day.

My coronation day.

My welcome-to-the-rest-of-my-life day.

All right, we stop in front of the doors to the grand hall and Alexandra turns to me. She adjusts my hair and my dress, and she smiles at me. It’s a strange sort of smile, though. Alexandra seems almost...sad.

What does she have to be sad about?

That’s what I want to know.

She loves me, and I love her, and this should be the happiest day of my life. Granted, it would be better if my parents were all here to see it. That can’t be helped, though. My fathers were all killed in battle long ago, back when the mages and dragons were at war. Now we all seem to live in peace, somehow, and I hope that during my reign as queen, I’ll be able to continue this legacy of peace.

Of hope.

Then Alexandra pushes open the doors to the great hall, and I realize why the castle feels so quiet.

The guards.

There aren’t any guards.

Anywhere.

There weren’t guards outside of my bedroom and there weren’t guards on the stairs and there weren’t guards in front of the door.

And I can see why.

Ruby is sitting on the throne, and she’s wearing the crown.

I turn to Alexandra, but the sadness is gone from her eyes, replaced with fire and anger. Maybe even a little bit of...hatred? Can that be right?

Alexandra? I whisper. What’s going on?

Why is Ruby sitting on the throne looking smug as all hell?

Why are there no guards?

And where are my mates?

They were supposed to be here, but I don’t see any of them. In fact, I don’t see anyone. The great hall is empty aside from Ruby and her four mates who, the last time I checked, weren’t actually officially mated.

I’m guessing some things have changed that I wasn’t aware of.

You are not to be queen, Alexandra says.

Then what the hell am I wearing this fucking dress for? I shout, suddenly angry beyond all reason.

A betrayal.

I have been betrayed.

"Why did you show up to my room and pretend