Dragon's Child - Leah E. Welker

Two children, one birthright. . . .

During the Battle for Earth, the Tree of Ice died to trap the dark, embodied Devourer in a time freeze, which extended to all of Earth. Nineteen years later, Earth has begun to thaw, and now Sarah and Ben's grown children and Heirs-twins Korrien Moontouched and Serona Sunfilled-must find their destined consorts of Ice and Ember to defeat the Devourer once and for all.

Korrien Moontouched is the Heir of Light. As if the pressure of helping his mother and Queen lead their growing clan wasn't enough, he and his twin sister have grown up knowing they are the keys to the Devourer's final defeat-to concluding the Battle for Earth, which, thanks to the Tree of Ice's unthinkable sacrifice, has been frozen in time ever since, along with the rest of Earth.

Yet, nineteen years later, Earth's time thaw begins, throwing Rien in the midst of the Seven Realms' efforts to secretly protect humanity from their common enemy. The thaw also offers Rien his sole opportunity to find his consort-because Rien has to marry a pure human of Ice.

But so far, the only young woman to have escaped the time freeze of Earth is nothing like what the logical, perfectionist "prince" had so carefully planned for himself. As feisty and unpredictable as she is pretty and petite, Sierra Knight encapsulates everything Rien finds aggravating . . . and irresistible . . . about his destiny.

Serona Sunfilled is the Heir of Flame. Even so, the bright and bubbling young woman has only three goals in life: One, keep her oh-so-serious twin brother sane. Two, make her beloved papa and King proud. And three, find the mate the Tree of Flame promised her and live happily ever after.

Yet things aren't quite that simple. When the Tree of Flame sends Rona to an unknown world in search of her consort, instead of finding the adventure and bliss she'd hoped for, she finds only devastation and tragedy . . . and the dragon who awaits her is nothing like she had expected-and belongs to the rarest of Powers, one that can only be born from the dying embers of calamity.

Suddenly, nothing is quite as perfect as the sunny "princess" had always believed it would be. Though Drevior is as tantalizingly handsome as he is scarred, he returns with her carrying secrets and sorrows-and he brings a dire warning of an entirely new threat to the Seven Realms . . . which he will risk everything, even his life, to deliver.

For there are other powers of darkness besides the Devourer, and as the Devourer weakens and its defeat approaches, one of them turns its bloodthirst on them. If the Seven Realms and Earth are to survive the coming days, both Rien and Rona will have to decide whether to fully embrace their birthright and at last unite all four Powers of Life-Flame, Ice, Light, and Ember . . .

. . . in one.