Born in Frost, Reborn in Shadow
Joy Brown · Completed · 6.8k Words
Introduction
House Veyron's Hatching Law was absolute: the first dragon egg to break shell inherits the entire Emberscale empire. My sister-in-law Celine and I were both due to deliver—our egg dates only one day apart. To ensure his brother Roman's posthumous egg hatched first, Kael made his choice.
"Roman and Celine's egg must break shell first. You owe them that!" He ignored my ruptured water, ignored the agony of the egg already pressing into my birth canal, and shoved me into that dungeon built from ancient ice-dragon bones.
Then they injected me with Frostbind Serum—an ice-magic drug that freezes the life-bond between a mother dragon and her egg. I curled up on the frozen floor carved with suppression runes, feeling my child's pulse fade beat by beat, and wept.
My baby, I'm so sorry... I can't even protect you...
Chapter 1
Elara's POV
"Let go of me! My baby is coming!"
I clawed at the dragon-bone doorframe, my nails splitting against the carved runes. The contractions hit like lightning—scales flickered beneath my skin, trying to surface, only to be crushed back down by the cold already seeping up from below.
Vance pried my fingers off one by one. No emotion. No hesitation.
"Lord Kael's orders." He dragged me toward the stairs. "The Frost Vault will suppress your dragonflame. Your egg won't hatch. You wait until Lady Celine's egg breaks shell first."
"Are you insane?" Amniotic fluid ran down my legs. "You'll freeze my baby to death!"
"Lord Roman's bloodline takes priority." His voice could've cut steel.
The Frost Vault.
Built from ancient ice-dragon bones, every wall etched with suppression runes that glowed a sickening blue. The air reeked of old blood and dragon marrow—this was where House Veyron executed traitors.
Vance shoved me to the ground. The cold hit my spine like a blade. He pulled out a communication crystal and switched it to broadcast.
"Lord Kael. She's in the Vault. Water broke. The rune array should hold her."
"She's still making a fuss?" Kael's voice came through, tired and annoyed.
Making a fuss?
"Kael!" I screamed at the crystal. "It's me! Our baby is coming NOW!"
"Are you kidding me? Right now?" Irritation dripped from every word. "Celine is about to deliver. Can't you hold it for two hours?"
"Hold it? My dragonflame is already gone—the runes drained everything—"
"You were pretty good at picking your timing when you crawled into my bed." His laugh was ice. "Forgot how to calculate now?"
The memory slammed into me. One year ago. That rainy night—the news of Roman's ambush by the Frost dragons, Kael passed out from the spiked soup, his rage when he woke...
"I was just bringing you a tonic! I didn't..."
"A tonic?" He exploded. "You laced it with Spring Desire! If it wasn't for your damn drug, Roman would never have—"
"Kael... it hurts... I'm scared..."
Celine's whimper drifted through the crystal. Soft. Fragile. Perfect.
And just like that, his voice melted into something I hadn't heard in a year.
"Hey. Don't be afraid. Breathe. The egg's almost here."
"It feels like it can't wait to meet us..." Celine's laugh was a whisper of silk.
"It'll be brave. Just like its father."
Every word was a knife twisting in my chest.
Same situation. Two pregnant women. One got tenderness. The other got a frozen dungeon.
"Kael..." My voice cracked. "My egg needs warmth too... please..."
"Your egg?" He scoffed. "You should be grateful you're still carrying one. Otherwise you'd have been fed to the blood wolves months ago." A beat. "Vance. Give her the Frostbind."
The crystal went dead.
Vance reached into a case and pulled out a syringe filled with ice-blue liquid. The glow pulsed like something alive.
"What is that?"
"Frostbind Serum. It'll keep your egg dormant a little longer."
"No!" I scrambled backward. "That will kill it!"
"It won't die. It'll just... wait." He grabbed my arm with one hand. "You don't understand what Roman meant to this clan. If the old master hadn't forced Kael to marry some no-name half-blood like you on his deathbed—"
The needle pierced my vein.
Ice flooded my bloodstream. Not cold—alive. Like a thousand frozen needles burrowing through every vessel, crawling toward the egg. I could feel the serum wrapping around the life bond between me and my child, squeezing, smothering.
"Lord Roman should never have died." Vance's eyes were full of disgust. "You're a curse on House Veyron. Every last thing that's gone wrong started with you."
He packed up the syringe and left without looking back.
The iron door slammed shut.
The serum took hold fast.
The steady pulse of my egg—that warm, rhythmic heartbeat I'd felt every day for months—stuttered.
Slowed.
Faltered.
I pressed both hands against my belly, curling into myself on the frozen dragon-bone floor. The runes around me hummed with blue light, drinking whatever warmth I had left.
"Baby..." I whispered. "Don't give up. Mama's right here."
Thump.
Weaker.
Thump.
Weaker still.
"Please... please keep fighting..."
Almost nothing now.
I couldn't feel my fingers. Couldn't feel my legs. The only thing I could still feel was that tiny, fading pulse—my baby slipping away from me one heartbeat at a time.
I closed my eyes. Tried to push my dragonflame toward the egg. Nothing. The runes had eaten it all.
I'm sorry, baby. Mama can't even keep you warm.
The tears froze on my cheeks before they could fall.
Time blurred. Minutes. Maybe hours. The cold devoured everything—thought, hope, fight.
I was almost gone when the iron door groaned open again.
Heels. Sharp, deliberate, clicking against dragon bone.
I forced my swollen eyes open.
Kael's sister Nyra stood over me. In her right hand, she dragged a weapon across the ground—a whip braided from frost-dragon fangs, its chain links gleaming with pale, hungry light.
The Frostbone Lash.
She tilted her head and smiled.
"I heard you were making a fuss." She cracked the whip once. The sound echoed off every wall. "Big brother sent me to teach you what 'hold it' really means."
Last Chapters
You Might Like 😍
Rejected By My Family, Desired By The Mafia
While the real heiress struggled to survive, the nanny’s daughter, Talia, was raised in luxury as the beloved jewel of the Laurent family, pampered by Camille’s parents, adored by her three brothers, and even promised to the prestigious Matteo Devereux through a childhood engagement arranged by their grandparents.
Then the truth came out.
Six months ago, Camille was finally brought back to the Laurent family. To protect the family reputation and prove their devotion to their bloodline, the Laurent patriarch transferred 35% of his personal shares into Camille’s name overnight, instantly making her one of the wealthiest heiresses in the country.
It brought anxiety to all the Laurent family. But what they don’t know…is that Camille never needed them.
Behind her elegant smile lies a woman filled with secrets powerful enough to shake the whole family. She's a miraculous healer capable of curing the incurable poisons.
Yet despite everything, her family still chooses Talia.
Every accusation against Talia is forgiven. Every scheme against Camille is brushed aside. Even Matteo, the man who was supposed to be Camille’s fiancé—cannot let go of the woman he always believed belonged by his side.
But while the Laurent family underestimates Camille, another man begins to see exactly who she is.
Dante Moretti.
The ruthless heir of an old-money dynasty. A billionaire CEO worshipped by the public…and the merciless king of a criminal empire hidden beneath the city’s glittering surface. When Dante is poisoned by a rival syndicate with a deadly toxin no doctor can cure, he offers a fortune for anyone who can save him.
Only Camille can. Their deal is simple: she becomes his personal physician, and he gives her anything she wants.
Let Them Kneel
Cast out by her pack. Forgotten by the Lycans.
She lived among humans—quiet, invisible, tucked away in a town no one looked at twice.
But when her first heat comes without warning, everything changes.
Her body ignites. Her instincts scream. And something primal stirs beneath her skin—
summoning a big, bad Alpha who knows exactly how to quench her fire.
When he claims her, it’s ecstasy and ruin.
For the first time, she believes she’s been accepted.
Seen.
Chosen.
Until he leaves her the next morning—
like a secret never to be spoken.
But Kaelani is not what they thought.
Not wolfless. Not weak.
There is something ancient inside her. Something powerful. And it’s waking.
And when it does—
they’ll all remember the girl they tried to erase.
Especially him.
She’ll be the dream he keeps chasing… the one thing that ever made him feel alive.
Because secrets never stay buried.
And neither do dreams.
Filled, Owned, and Fucked by My Best Friend’s Father
He was supposed to be off-limits. Untouchable. The kind of man you only fantasize about when you’re alone in the dark with your hand between your thighs.
But the night I caught him eating another woman alive by the pool, I couldn’t look away.
And he knew it.
The moment his dark eyes locked on mine through the glass, I became prey. His filthy smirk promised one thing—he saw me touching myself to him, and he wasn’t about to let me forget it.
Now, every time I’m in his house, I can’t breathe without thinking of his mouth between my legs.
I left my cheating boyfriend behind, only to fall into something even more dangerous:
a man who could ruin me, break me, and make me beg for his cock while his own daughter sleeps in the next room.
He’s too old. Too powerful. Too forbidden.
But Gianni doesn’t ask—he takes.
And I don’t want him to stop.
Tempted By The Enemy
She escapes to Preston Island to attend the wedding without informing him only to collide with Lucas’s hot, fiery and arrogant brother, the twenty-three-year-old, Nicholas Donnelly. Sparks immediately fly between them but Alyssa refuses to acknowledge them fearing her brother's wrath.
The wedding is over and Alyssa tries hard to forget the mysterious Nicholas Donnelly but can he forget her? Can he ignore the attraction he feels for her, feelings that have resurfaced after ten years?
What will Allyssa do when she is stalked by the man who has been invading her dreams since the day she met him? What will she do when she is whisked away to a deserted island by the unpredictable Nicholas Donnelly? Can she tame her heart or surrender to sinful temptations? Read to find out!
Part of the Temptation Series. Can be read as a standalone.
My Husband's Secretary Wore My Dress
Those words shattered Vivian's heart.
For three years, she endured her husband's coldness and his secretary's endless provocations.
She never knew that the woman he trusted most had stolen her identity.
Or that the man she loved had secretly loved her all along.
When the truth finally came out, it was already too late.
Vivian had divorced him.
She had disappeared with his unborn child.
And she had no intention of coming back.
Five years later, the former ballerina returned as the sole heiress of a powerful family.
Standing beside her was a little girl with eyes identical to Caden Lux's.
The billionaire who once ignored her had gone mad.
He blocked her in the dressing room, knelt before her, and even accepted the possibility that another man had taken his place.
Because losing his pride was nothing.
Losing Vivian had nearly killed him.
But after everything he had done…
Could she ever forgive the man who chose another woman over his own wife?
My Billionaire Husband's Secret
He was the CEO of the Blackwood Group — a man whose wealth and power eclipsed ninety-nine percent of the world.
He was gentle. Romantic. Attentive. I fell for him fast.
But a year into our marriage, I began to notice something — a pattern.
Lucas's sexual appetite was intense — he wanted me almost every night. Yet every single month, he arranged a solo trip to send me away. I told myself it was his way of spoiling me.
Then a message arrived from someone called Sweet An.
Do you really know your husband?
From that day on, my life filled with shadows.
I suspected my husband of having an affair.
When Lucas and I made love, something felt wrong — his body too large, too much, like something I couldn't explain.
I heard sounds during sex — animal sounds, like something feral had crawled into bed with us.
My best friend Mia said: "There are men sick enough to let dogs fuck their wives."
The family doctor, Daisy, told me: "You could never stay by Lucas's side forever. Your background doesn't make you worthy of being his wife. Do you understand?"
I went looking for whoever had been tearing my marriage apart. I fought to win my husband back.
But the deeper I searched, the larger the secret grew — something far darker hiding beneath this supposed betrayal.
Does Lucas truly love me?
And why, out of everyone in the world, did he choose to marry me?
Bloodright
Ashveil University is not what it looks like in the photographs. The students here carry something that shifts their eyes at the edges of anger. The northwest trees hold an attention that trees should not be able to hold. And the empty chair at the council table, the one nobody sits in, the one nobody explains, has been waiting three hundred years for one specific person to arrive.
Nobody told Adaline she was that person. They classified her as Dormant. A blank space in a file. Nothing.
She is the opposite of nothing.
Beneath the campus, three ancient entities are waking up. Every house in the pack world wants to control what runs in her blood. The boy sent to assess her has stopped being able to do his job. And the woman who has been three steps ahead of everyone since before Adaline was born is not a villain. She is a warning. She is what Adaline would have become if nobody had found her.
The suppression field holding everything together is failing. The clock is running. And the only way to stop what is coming requires Adaline to give up the thing she can least afford to lose.
She already knows her answer. She decided before anyone told her the full price.
Everybody is Guilty Here
Middlesbrough's underworld is a dangerous game, and Matthew Smith finds himself right in the middle of it. A once-feared gang leader, he is now forced to be a pawn in a deadly cat-and-mouse game. Matthew's only shot at freedom is helping the police bring down Mr. K, the elusive mafia boss of the city. The only problem is that the detective he is forced to work with is the same man who arrested him years ago.
Masahiro Payne is everything Matthew hates: cold, calculating, and relentless. But their only hope for survival is by pretending to be a happy couple, blending in amidst dangerous crime, deceit, and power struggles. The closer they find themselves to taking down Mr. K's empire, the more they are attracted to one another, an affair too potent to turn from.
As their undercover mission spirals into a web of lies and hidden desires, they face a growing threat from all sides. But the greatest risk is the one they can't control-their own feelings. With every touch, every stolen kiss, the line between their fake relationship and real emotions blurs.
In a world of betrayal, trust is a luxury, and falling for each other may be the deadliest mistake of all. Can they survive the deadly mafia games or will their passion be their demise?
The Billionaire's Surrogate's Secret
“Who said that’s still fucking true? We stopped being just man and surrogate the first time our eyes met.” He walked towards me, boring into my eyes with those eyes of his. “I fucking want you, Vanessa.”
My heart stuttered.
This could not be real.
“But the rules—“
“I made them. I can destroy them. I already destroyed them when I kissed you.” He was dangerously close now, but all I kept getting was danger signals combined with the panic, alarm, lust and above all, the guilt.
It was killing me.
Vanessa Sterling who never liked men because of what her father did to her mother ended up having a drunken one night stand with a stranger and that might end up changing her life forever.
Rodri Darnell who doesn’t want to get married or have kids but is forced to give his father a grand child, decided to use a surrogate.
Vanessa Sterling was supposed to be an ordinary surrogate to Rodri Darnell of the Dolphin Emirates, but he fell in love with her.
Their only problem will be Vanessa's secret.
Mission: Steal the Male Lead
But the more Morwenna changes the story, the stranger the world becomes. The heroine seems to know the future, unseen spectators begin commenting on her life, and the gods watching from above grow obsessed with the drama unfolding before them. Trapped in a story where fate has already decided the ending, Morwenna must choose whether to follow the script or rewrite it entirely. But if the world itself was never meant to belong to its characters, can she steal the male lead before fate steals her freedom first?
CHASING GHOSTS
