Elena lives in terror under her sociopathic stepmother, who hangs Elena's four-year-old son over a pit of hungry crocodiles to compel Elena to substitute for her favored stepsister as a bridal sacrifice to the Black Dragon. With her child's survival hanging by a thread, Elena agrees to the grim sentence, stepping alone into the smoldering subterranean abyss where no mortal has ever survived.
Instead of meeting a brutal death, Elena encounters the ancient Dragon Sovereign, charming the brooding beast with her fiery spirit and forging a sacred marriage pact. Weeks later, Elena marches back into her family's opulent estate, flanked by an imposing, raven-haired warlord who commands the skies. Her horrified stepmother watches in trembling shock as the sacrificial victim introduces the beast as her devoted husband.
