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Chapter One

Raluca

Raluca fled across the sky on dragonwings, frequently glancing back It had been an entire day since so any chances She’d given up everything she had in the hope of finally getting to have a life, and she was not going to let soot the chance to experience it

Her silver wings stretched out wide to catch the sea breeze Above, the sky was blue as turquoise; below, the ocean was a darker blue, like sapphires

She possessed both ge with many others; after she’d renounced her title as crown princess of Viorel, leaped off the palace balcony, and becoon in mid-air, she’d flown to her room, transformed into a woman, snatched up the brocade pack that held her hoard, and shifted and floay again before an alarm could be raised

Raluca had taken nothing but her hoard and the clothes she’d been wearing, but that had been sufficient After reluctantly deciding that she could bear to part with a valuable diaift from her evil Uncle Constantine, she’d sold it and had been living off the proceeds ever since It had been a good choice; that diamond had so h it had sparkled beautifully in the sunlight

Her uncle had controlled her for her entire life He’d attee with a man she didn’t love to ensure a treaty between their nations that would line his own pockets He’d even tried to murder her fiancé’s truethat had come from him

Her thoughts drifted back to that crucial moment when she had declared her independence and fled She’d felt so free as she’d leapt off the balcony, becoon, and soared away Her entire life had been ruled by her duties as a princess, with Uncle Constantineher every action Now she could do whatever she wanted

It had taken her less than a week to realize that she had no idea what she wanted

She’d first hteen, aard teenagers forced into an arranged engageth of will to refuse When they’d ed physically Lucas was taller and broader across the shoulders: a handso man, not a boy Raluca’s daily lessons in posture and dance had finally paid off, transforirl uncoon princess who controlled every race

But Lucas had changed inside, too He’d gone to Ae job for a prince — and found the courage to defy his family When hename of Journey, he’d stood up for her, foiled Uncle Constantine’s attedoeon for the rest of his life, Lucas was presu happily in America with Journey, and Raluca

Raluca’s breath gusted out of her in a dragon-sized sigh, blowing a hole in a cloud She’d drifted fro the faht she’d feel free, but she felt more trapped than ever With the entire world at her feet, she’d felt lonely and empty

Until someone broke into her hotel room and tried to stab her to death as she slept

Some tiny noise must have startled her, for instinct prompted her to roll off the bed before she was even fully awake She’d fallen to the floor with a thud, opened her eyes, and stared up in shock at a glittering blade poised above her heart Then the e it home

But Raluca’s dragon speed out She threw herself to the side The dagger sain, Raluca transfor the black-clad assassin across the rooainst the wall, releasing the distinctive sharp odor of dragonsbane, the poison that prevented dragons fro

The assassin scrambled to his feet and fled out the door And Raluca, with a distinct feeling of déjà vu, grabbed her hoard pack in her talons and launched off the hotel balcony

For the first tiain The threat to her life jolted her back into the realization of how ht not kno she wanted to live, but she definitely wanted to live

Also, she wasn’t stupid That attack hadn’t been randoonsbane proved that the assassin knew she was a dragon, and presuood idea of why soht want her dead She’d renounced her title, but she had the right to change heras she lived, she potentially stood between the throne of Viorel and everyone as now in line to inherit it

Unfortunately, that didn’t narron the suspects as ht hope Raluca had the only clear claim to the throne With her out of the picture, that left about twenty cousins and other relatives who, last she’d heard, had been fighting over the crown by any means necessary, from duels to debates to very expensive lawsuits And that wasn’t even counting Uncle Constantine, who ht have bribed someone from within his cell with the promise of infinite riches once Raluca was dead and he was free