Paranormal Romance — slow burn romance, happily ever after, swoony romance reads.A dragon rider romantasy of an immortal enemy and a fated mate, and the wife he had to win back. A thorn mage must bargain with the cursed prince of a rival ash court to save her dying brother. When the price is her hand in marriage, she discovers her new husband is the dragon shifter who once burned her village. Now she must navigate a court of lies, a rival who wants her dead, and a bond that could either save her family or destroy her soul.Rowan Ashford has spent a century cursed to walk the mortal realm as a dragon without wings. The only thing that can break the curse is the blood of a thorn mage—the very woman he once loved and lost. When Elara Thorn arrives at his court, desperate for a cure for her brother's magical wasting disease, Rowan offers her a deal: become his wife, share his bed, and he will give her the ash-bloom she needs. But Elara doesn't remember their past—she doesn't know that they were fated mates before a dark spell stole her memories and her magic. Now she sees him only as a monster, a dragon prince who burned her village to ash. She hates him with every fiber of her being, yet her body betrays her, responding to his touch with a heat that feels ancient and forbidden.As they work together to find the ash-bloom before her brother dies, Elara discovers that her own magic is tied to Rowan's curse—and that the rival within her court, a sly fox shifter named Kael, has been poisoning her against Rowan for years. Kael wants the throne of the ash court, and he will stop at nothing to destroy the fragile alliance between Rowan and Elara. When Kael reveals that Rowan was the one who burned her village—but also that he did it to save her from a greater evil—Elara faces an impossible choice: trust the dragon prince who destroyed her home but loves her with a desperate, consuming fire, or side with the fox shifter who offers her power but whose loyalties are as shifting as the wind. Both men have blood on their hands. One of them is her fated mate. And the choice will determine the fate of both the thorn and ash courts.Tropes: Fated mates, dragon rider romantasy, enemies to lovers, arranged marriage, amnesia, one bed, only one horse, immortal enemies, forced proximity, morally gray hero, wife he had to win back, slow burn with spice, court intrigue, found family, protective hero, hidden powers.Series: The Thorn and Ash Cycle. Book one of a completed trilogy. Next: A Crown of Bone and Ember.Perfect for readers who love **Harley Laroux** and **Liv Zander**.