His Dragon Princess: The Dragon Kings of Fire and Ice, #8

By Amelia Shaw

Veronica
My whole world crumbles when the sorcerer Anthony reveals to me that Iain is my Fated Mate. Having been raised as cousins, we are familiar and not in a good way! All my life he has belittled me, annoyed me, and ignored me. He's exerted his authority over me at my expense and has never shown an ounce of regret for it.
I don't know whether Anthony speaks the truth—my heart wants to believe his words are lies—but I refuse to remain and find out. And so, I flee to the mortal realm, where Iain is no longer my problem! Or at least, I thought so.

Iain
Enjoying the freedoms of my station, I take to the wing, enjoying a flight with my liege, King Damon. Together, we discover an old wreck we're keen to investigate. But the joke's on us when our joy ride quickly succumbs to disaster.
The ancient house collapses around us, trapping us both within the ruins and debris of ages past. It's going to take a miracle for help to find us, and the king is gravely injured. Time is running out. I can only hope that the woman I've tormented and scorned all my life will put her pain aside to become our savior…

If you love your romance filled with passion, fury, and longing, you'll fall head over heels for Iain and Veronica as they set the whole world on fire in their quest to discover the truth.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Harley Romance Publishing
• Release date: Nov 25, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223448662

Book preview

Prologue. 18 months ago.

VERONICA.

My parents refused to let me leave the castle... again! I’d asked them to be reasonable. I’d begged them to understand. I’d even pleaded with them. Then, I’d started yelling.

There was no convincing them to allow me to go anywhere without them. They were leaving me with no other option than to break free of my gilded cage, whether they liked it or not. I was eighteen now, and with two older brothers to look after my parents’ kingdom, what use was I?

People were speaking loudly in the dining room as I passed, and I stopped in the hallway outside the room, listening hard to try and figure out what was happening. It was breakfast time and there was an unfamiliar male voice I wasn’t expecting to hear. Who could that be?

I altered my previous trajectory toward the library and, instead, pushed open the door to the dining room. My gaze fell on one of the men I’d grown up with. Not the one I always feared seeing, but a dragon prince nonetheless.

Hi Veronica.

Despite the anger of my previous argument with my parents still boiling in my veins, seeing him made me smile. Anthony! I didn’t know you were here.

I rushed forward for a hug. The secret plans inside my head to leave the castle and the protection of my family were already making me homesick and saying goodbye to Anthony would make the farewell even worse. I clung to the man who’d been like an older brother to me when I was growing up.

The barely dressed prince pulled out of our hug and gave me an awkward smile. It wasn’t planned; I just started flying and found myself here.

That didn’t sound like Anthony, but then, he had always been cagey about his emotions.

I reached for his hands and gripped his fingers, wanting him to know that he had a friend. You know it’s always good to see you.

But as soon as I said the words, blindness overtook me. The world around me dropped away to darkness, but inside my mind a vision coalesced and became strong.

I was standing by the window in our palace, upstairs in my favorite reading room. I was wearing a gown of royal purple. A dress I didn’t own.  

My eyes burned with hot tears as I stared at that version of myself. I was heavily pregnant and smiling in a content way. That simply couldn’t be. Contentment was a feeling I’d never known. Ever.

Why would I be happy to be having a baby? This vision made no sense. How far into the future was this?

My hand rested on my huge belly, and then I turned toward the sound of footsteps echoing in the room as my heart leapt with happiness.

I didn’t want to see the next part and squeezed my eyes shut. But I couldn’t stop the images being projected into my mind by the prince still gripping my hands.

The father of my child stepped out of the shadows, a smile on his face that I’d never witnessed before. Iain.

Iain? No! That was impossible. He hated me. He always had.

Before I could see any more lies, I ripped my hands out of Anthony’s hold and the vision stopped.

My normal eyesight immediately returned and with it I saw Anthony, looking pale and drawn and staring at me with a wary look in his eyes. Asshole!

What the hell was that? I yelled at him, shaking with the need to shift. My dragon was furious and confused. So many other emotions too. I couldn’t even sort one hot flash of anger from other deeper feelings and it just made me—and my dragon—even more upset. I needed to shift and fly... fly far away.

Anthony ran a shaking hand through his hair. I’m sorry. That’s never happened before.

Bullshit! You know exactly what just happened! You’re a sorcerer! Just like your mom.

What happened? Dad demanded, rushing to our side.

Oh, it was nothing, Anthony said quickly, then looked over to me with a look of unmistakable fear.

I turned to tell my father exactly what I’d seen. When he grabbed my hand, I saw... I saw...

I stopped, partly out of empathy for Anthony’s obvious distress over the situation, but also for my own selfish reasons. Iain was the youngest son of King Stavrok, my mother’s cousin. I couldn’t believe Fate would tie me into a marriage with my own cousin, surely?

But Mom and Dad would. They completely believed in fated mates. After all, their marriage was the product of Fate’s choice. But I wouldn’t be. No matter what they said, or demanded of me, I would not marry Iain because Anthony had ‘seen’ it and communicated that to me in a vision.

No.

I lifted my chin and turned to my father, changing the subject for all of our sakes. Dad, why have I been restricted in all my flight plans this month? I tried to organize to go and see Kayla, but I was told I couldn’t.

Dad turned to Mom, then glanced back at me. Veronica, we’ve gone over this. You are a princess. You can’t just fly off whenever you want, to God knows where. You know what happened to your mother.

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms over my chest. Yeah... she was kidnapped by your half-brothers, which led to the re-unification of your family, Dad. That was never a bad thing.

Mom walked over, annoyance at my attitude written all over her pale face. Veronica. You have responsibilities here.

I don’t. I groaned, gesturing to her with my hand. That’s the problem, Mom. You do! Dad does. Even my brothers do. I have nothing to do here, absolutely nothing, except hang around and watch everyone else live life to the fullest.

Mom reached out a hand to me. You can shadow me, learn the ropes of being a queen...

I shook her off. I’ll never be a queen, Mom. Here or anywhere else. Even if that stupid vision was right, Iain was the youngest son and would never inherit. I may as well learn some basic skills. Maybe cooking or sewing.

Dad groaned. Veronica! You are a princess. Shadow your mother with her responsibilities for our people. Helping the less fortunate. Volunteering...

I groaned and covered my face with my hands.

He didn’t stop. Or shadow me and learn about our kingdom. Politics. You have an incredibly bright mind. I don’t want that going to waste.

I dropped my hands and glanced at Anthony, who looked lost in thought. Was he still stewing over the vision he’d shared? He was going to be no help here at all.

I continued to argue back and forth with my parents about being allowed out, but it was clearly useless.

At the back of my mind, a new plan was forming. Now that I’d seen what Anthony showed me, I didn’t want to just leave the castle. With this new information about Iain, I needed to leave the realm.

Now I just had to work out where to go, and how I could get there.

A MONTH LATER.

Veronica

Anthony’s wedding was the last family event I’d agreed to attend before my trip. As I stared around at the guests, I noticed Iain standing with my brother and some other mutual friends. I decided to give them a wide berth.

But there was one person I wanted to speak to before I finally flew away.

I grabbed a glass of champagne from a nearby waiter and walked over to the groom.

Anthony raised an eyebrow at me. Hitting the alcohol now, dragon daughter?

I tossed my long blonde hair over her shoulder, annoyed at him after only one sentence. I’m eighteen, I said. It’s legal in our realm, even if it isn’t everywhere in the human world. Then I took a sip of champagne to prove my point.

Covering the wince that accompanied the tart taste was the hardest part.

So, what are you doing standing over here? I asked him, turning to stand by his side so we could both stare at the dance floor. Surveying your kingdom?

He scoffed. Second born son, child. Haven’t you learned how things go?

I punched him in the arm, hard. I was third born, and a girl. Didn’t he understand that I was the one who had no purpose in life?

Hey! Anthony glared at me. It’s my wedding day. You’re meant to be nice to me.

I narrowed my eyes, but kept my mouth shut. He was right. I went back to sipping my terrible champagne and scowled at the room in general instead of specifically at him.

Anthony stared at his beautiful wife who was dancing with his father, King Erik. Love was written all over Anthony’s face, making me uncomfortable.

I needed to change the focus. It’s still your kingdom, you know. I bit my lip, recalling some information my mother had passed along. Everyone knew about Anthony’s magic now. You’re the sorcerer now, yeah?

He shrugged. I suppose. My mom’s been teaching me how to use my magic, but I’m decades behind her.

I grinned. It was nice to see him finally accepting his role. It was obvious he’d been fighting his magic for a long time. Yeah... but your mom’s not going anywhere, so you have time to learn.

Marienne was barely fifty. He had many years to learn her secrets.

True, Anthony said with a heavy sigh.

I empathized. None of us liked to think about the day our powerful parents would leave this world. I certainly didn’t want to entertain the thought. My dad was the most amazing man I’d ever known. He’d rebuilt our kingdom from the ashes of war. He was more amazing than a phoenix and a sorcerer put together.

Doubt suddenly assailed me. Maybe I was doing the wrong thing? Leaving my parents and my whole world behind.

What do you need, dragon daughter? Anthony asked suddenly, dragging me out of my thoughts.

I glanced up at the man who’d shown me a vision I never asked for. He didn’t say anything more, so I knew it was time that I asked the questions for which I’d been dying to know the answers. You know when you came over for lunch that time, a few weeks ago?

My heart began to pound a little harder and my stomach clenched with the stress of even bringing up this topic.

Anthony studied me. Oh, you mean when I accidentally gave you a vision of your future?

Yes! I wanted to scream at him, but instead I choked down another sip of champagne, and nodded mutely instead.

So, what are you going to do about it? Anthony asked.

Nothing, I said, gathering my courage and tipping my head back to finish the rest of my drink. Yuck.

What do you mean, nothing? He chuckled softly. You know who your fated mate is and you’re going to ignore him?

Fated mate? No! There was no way Iain was the man I was meant to marry. Anthony had to be wrong, but I wasn’t