Nurse Ella dies saving a baby, wakes a collared slave on the dragon continent. At the selection, picked lives, the cage kills. Her sister Vivian is taken by a gold dragon; Ella left to die. Dragged to the cage, she meets cold Prince Adrian and his crying, magic-wild toddler Leo. A cub-voice system lets her hear Leo's back hurts; she pulls a bloody broken needle from his swaddle, earning life. In the Black Forest, Leo bonds with her, and the icy prince breaks his rules for her.