Shadow and Light (Drakoryn Saga – Book One) In a world where empires are built on dragonfire and oathbound blood, a single choice can decide the fate of nations. Seri never asked for destiny, yet the mark in her hair and the dreams in her bones leave her no escape. When she bonds with Ysilith, a frost-dragon vast as winter storms, she is torn from her family and thrust into the glittering, brutal heart of the Empire. There, the Brood—her new brothers and sisters bound to dragons of fire, stone, venom, and frost—circle her like predators. And above them all sit Empress Caerine and Emperor Veythar: rulers as merciless as the gods. But not all in the palace is cruelty. In secret gardens and moonlit chambers, Seri finds an unlikely ally in Evander, the Emperor’s trueborn son—a boy hiding a dangerous secret of his own. Together they must navigate a world of teeth behind smiles, where politics cuts deeper than steel and the First Pact still binds kings, dragons, and gods alike. As rebellion stirs beyond the palace walls and rival Houses sharpen their knives—Kracmere with their iron, Nytheris with their poisons, Tideborne with their fleets—the bond between dragon and rider may prove the Empire’s salvation… or its ruin. For fans of epic fantasy, dragon riders, and political intrigue, Shadow and Light begins an unforgettable saga of power, betrayal, and the fragile spark of hope.