The palace is owed taxes. Alex Mauricio needs to pay it and keep her brother out of the army. It should be a simple exchange-her freedom for a clean slate. But nothing is simple when you can speak to animals in a kingdom that wants to use its dragons as weapons. As a handmaid, Alex expected the nobles' cruelty. What she didn't expect was catching the attention of the kingdom's ruthless ruler, who sees her gift as the key to controlling his prized dragons. Now trapped in a deadly game, Alex must survive trials to prove her worth or face consequences. As Alex fights for her freedom, she discovers that the greatest threat may not be the dragons she fears, but the humans who wish to rule them. With her family's fate hanging in the balance and a King who will stop at nothing to control her, Alex faces an impossible choice: refuse the king, and her family pays, or submit, and risk betraying the very creatures who have chosen to trust her.