Zara had once believed being chosen by Crown Prince Ryuvan meant love. As the weakest black serpent, she never imagined that choice would end in betrayal and death for her and her hatchling. When time sends her back to the mate selection ceremony, she refuses to walk the same path again. This time, after Ryuvan leaves her for her white-serpent sister, Zara makes a different choice and weds a mysterious outcast. What the world scorns as a black serpent is actually the bearer of a bloodline capable of unsettling the Three Realms and revealing a destiny beyond the dragon throne.