Elowen, the eldest daughter of the Winfield family, was framed by her aunt Valera for treason and imprisoned in a high tower. While in captivity, she gave birth to a daughter, Mia; using her final reserves of strength, she sent the child—along with a dragon-crested ring and a red obsidian necklace—onto the back of the dragon Valensa, entrusting the beast to take her to her biological father, Prince Orion of Aetheron. Five-year-old Mia ventured alone into a royal banquet, only to be driven away as an impostor because her father was unaware of the truth. She worked as a cleaner at the Dragon-Taming Academy to earn the coins needed to visit her mother, all while silently guarding the secret her mother had left in her care. As Valera closed in, desperate to seize the secret arts of dragon-taming, Mia’s true identity was finally confirmed by the dragons. Orion, consumed by remorse, rescued Elowen from the execution grounds just as a greater conspiracy loomed; the vengeance of the Mondragon family and an undead army fueled by dark magic would soon sweep the family of three into an ultimate battle determining the fate of the empire.