Dragon's Tithe

When a lower-realm survivor is taken as tribute to a dragon academy where humans are
meant to die, she upends the entire system by bonding with an ancient Elder dragon-
forcing a kingdom built on dominance to confront the one thing it cannot control.

Elara has spent her life surviving the edge.
Climbing where others fall. Enduring what others don't. Staying alive in a world that was
never meant to protect her.
Below the floating kingdoms, survival is a skill.
Above them, power is a birthright.
Then the Tithe comes early.
Taken from her home and delivered to the Spire of Aethelgard, Elara is thrown into a brutal
dragon academy where humans are not trained-they are used.
Fuel for the system.
Targets for the elite.
Proof that the hierarchy holds.
Most don't survive the first day.
Elara does.
She survives the climb.
She survives the arena.
She survives the dragons.
But survival isn't what changes everything.
Defiance does.
Because when Elara forms an impossible bond with Nyrax-an ancient Elder beast feared

even by the High-Born-she doesn't just break the rules of the Academy.
She breaks the foundation of their world.
Now marked as both weapon and threat, hunted by those who fear what she represents and
watched by a prince who cannot ignore her, Elara is pulled into a deadly game where power
is tested, loyalty is fragile, and control is everything.
Because dragons don't choose the weak.
And they don't choose humans.
Until one finally does.