The Dragon Prince's Hidden Heir

After eight years of brutal war, Prince Cassian returns to Crownreach riding a black dragon and carrying a heart hardened by betrayal. He believes Elara, the maid he once loved, broke him before he left for battle. But when he finds her living under Queen Maribel's cruelty-and discovers a young girl named Lyra Vale tied to secrets the palace tried to bury-everything he thought he knew begins to crack.Elara has spent years protecting the truth. Forced into silence by a queen who threatened to burn her alive, she raised Lyra in fear, hiding the child from a crown that would rather destroy her than accept her. But Queen Maribel's grip is tightening, and when she orders Lyra brought to her dead or alive, the kingdom's darkest secret becomes impossible to hide.Now Cassian must choose between the throne he was born to inherit and the family he was never supposed to have. With Nocturne, his powerful dragon, sensing a bloodline the crown cannot deny, Cassian and Elara are pulled into a dangerous fight against lies, royal ambition, and a queen willing to sacrifice an innocent child to protect her power.In a kingdom of fire, betrayal, and forbidden love, one hidden heir may change the fate of Aurelion forever.