by K. A. Linde
The Domina
Ascension Series Book Five
K.A. Linde
Contents
Also By K.A. Linde
Pronunciation Guide
Map of Emporia
1. The Creator
2. The Sisters
3. The Destroyer
4. The Council
5. The Vote
6. The Flight
7. The Faithless
8. The Red Dress
9. The Break-In
10. The Chamber
11. The Test
12. The Waking
13. The Favor
14. The Fallen
15. The Metal
16. The Youth
17. The True Believer
18. The Beast
19. The Enemy
20. The Attack
21. The Circadian Prophecy
22. The Journey
23. The Truth
24. The Dowager Queen
25. The Ancient Ones
26. The Spymaster
27. The Twin
28. The Festival
29. The Private Dinner
30. The Alliance
31. The Treaty
32. The Princess
33. The Shift
34. The Guild
35. The Rescue
36. The Trap
37. The Defector
38. The Trance
39. The Bones
40. The Seeing
41. The Blood Magic
42. The Reunion
43. The Uniting
44. The Wedding
45. The March
46. The Ash
47. The Night Before
48. The War
49. The Coin
50. The Voldere
51. The Return
52. The Bloodline
53. The Awakening
54. The Summons
55. The Answer
56. The Solstice
57. The Bond
58. The Sword
59. The Cleanse
60. The Curse
61. The Debt
62. The Battle
63. The Archer
64. The Alpha
65. The Heirs
66. The Link
67. The Gift
68. The Wings
69. The Society
70. The Blood Debt
71. The Doma
72. The Bombs
73. The Finale
74. The Recovery
75. The Doma Court
76. The New Beginning
77. The Departure
Epilogue
House of Dragons
Acknowledgments
Also By K.A. Linde
About the Author
A L S O B Y K. A. L I N D E
ASCENSION SERIES
The Affiliate
The Bound
The Consort
The Society
The Domina
* * *
ROYAL HOUSES SERIES
House of Dragons
* * *
Adult Romance Series
* * *
CRUEL
One Cruel Night ✦ Cruel Money
Cruel Fortune ✦ Cruel Legacy
* * *
WRIGHTS
The Wright Brother ✦ The Wright Boss
The Wright Mistake ✦ The Wright Secret
The Wright Love ✦ The Wright One
* * *
AVOIDING SERIES
Avoiding Commitment ✦ Avoiding Responsibility
Avoiding Temptation
* * *
Avoiding Extras
Avoiding Intimacy ✦Avoiding Decisions
* * *
RECORD SERIES
Off the Record ✦ On the Record ✦ For the Record
Struck from the Record ✦ Broken Record
* * *
DIAMOND GIRLS SERIES
Rock Hard ✦ A Girl’s Best Friend
In the Rough ✦ Shine Bright
Under Pressure
* * *
TAKE ME DUET
Take Me for Granted ✦ Take Me with You
* * *
BLOOD TYPE SERIES
Blood Type ✦ Blood Match ✦ Blood Cure
* * *
STAND ALONE
Following Me
Copyright © 2019 by K.A. Linde
All rights reserved.
* * *
Visit my website at www.kalinde.com
Cover Designer: Sarah Hansen, Okay Creations., www.okaycreations.com
Photographer: Lauren Perry, www.perrywinklephotography.com
Editor: Jovana Shirley, Unforeseen Editing, www.unforeseenediting.com
* * *
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
* * *
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
* * *
ISBN-13: 978-194842721
To my husband, Joel
For being the one who will always find me
Pronunciation Guide
CHARACTERS
AHLVIE GUNN: AL-VEE GUN
* * *
ALCHIA: AL-SHE-UH
* * *
ALESSIA: UH-LESS-EE-UH
* * *
ALURA: AH-LURE-UH
* * *
ARALYN STROHM: AIR-UH-LIN STRAHM
* * *
AUBRON: AH-BRUHN
* * *
AVOCA: AH-VOK-UH
* * *
BASILLE SELBY: BAH-SEAL SEL-BEE
* * *
BENETTA: BEN-EE-TUH
* * *
BIRDIE: BIRD-EE
* * *
BRIGETTE: BRIH-GET
* * *
CALDREVA ANAMARYA: CAL-DRAY-VUH ANN-UH-MUH-REE-UH
* * *
CARO BARCA: CAR-O BARS-UH
* * *
CEIS’F: SEE-ES-EF
* * *
CYRENE STROHM: SAH-REEN STRAHM
* * *
DEAN: DEEN
* * *
DRYSTAN: DRIS-TEN
* * *
EDRIC DREMYLON: EDGE-RICK DREM-LIN
* * *
ELEA STROHM: EL-YA STRAHM
* * *
EREN: AIR-EN
* * *
FENIX: FEN-IHX
* * *
GWYNORA WEYBURN: GWIN-OR-UH WAY-BURN
* * *
HELLY: HELL-EE
* * *
JENSTAD: JEN-STAHD
* * *
KAEL DREMYLON: KAYL DREM-LIN
* * *
KALIANA: KAL-EE-AH-NUH
* * *
KERRIGAN ARGON: KERR-IH-GEN ARH-GONE
* * *
KILLIAN: KILL-YEN
* * *
KIVRIN ARGON: KIV-RIN AR-GONE
* * *
MALYSA: MUH-LISS-UH
* * *
MATILDE: MUH-TILD
* * *
MERRICK: MER-ICK
* * *
MIKEL: MICK-ELLE
* * *
REEVE STROHM: REEV STRAHM
* * *
RHEA GRAMM: RAY GRAM
* * *
RITA CAUTHORN: REE-TUH CAW-THORN
* * *
SERAFINA: SER-UH-FEEN-UH
* * *
SONALI: SO-NAHL-EE
* * *
QUIDERA: KEY
-DARE-UH
* * *
VERA: VEER-UH
* * *
VIKTOR DREMYLON: VICK-TER DREM-LIN
* * *
VALESAMY: VAH-LESS-UH-ME
DRAGONS
* * *
AKEERA: UH-KEER-UH
* * *
AMEERATH: UH-MEER-UTH
* * *
HALCYON: HAL-SEE-UN
* * *
SARIELLE: SAHR-EE-ELLE
* * *
TAVRY: TAHV-REE
PLACES
* * *
ALANDRIA: A-LAND-REE-UH
* * *
ALBION: AL-BEE-ON
* * *
ALEUT: AL-YOU-ET
* * *
AONIA: A-OWN-YUH
* * *
AURUM: ARE-UM
* * *
BIENCO: BEE-EN-COH
* * *
BYERN: BY-URN
* * *
CARHARA: CAR-HAR-UH
* * *
DOMARA: DOE-MAR-UH
* * *
ELDORA: EL-DOR-UH
* * *
ELEYSIA: EL-A-SEE-UH
* * *
EMPORIA: EM-POR-EE-UH
* * *
IKA ROA: IKE-UH ROW-UH
* * *
ISOLA: EE-SOL-UH
* * *
KINKADIA: KIN-KAY-DEE-UH
* * *
MASTIRA: MAST-EAR-UH
* * *
NIT DECUS CASTLE: NIT DAKE-US
* * *
RASINE: RAH-SEEN
* * *
TENCHALA: TEN-CHAL-UH
* * *
TIEK: TEEK
* * *
TYGH: TEEG
Map of Emporia
1
The Creator
Cyrene stalked from the war tent.
Her magic was a living, breathing fire within her. It took all of her self-control to rein it in and not unleash it upon the figureheads who called themselves rulers. The sheer incompetence of bickering after what had just happened. Not that she had told them everything. The truth was still yet to be known, even to her.
She had spent all day and half of the night listening to them squabble over their loss. While the person who could truly explain it sat under guard within Cyrene’s own tent.
Her throat closed up at the thought. Perhaps she had stayed so long in the war tent, debating their next move, because, though it was tiresome, it was preferable to what she would find waiting for her.
And what she wouldn’t find.
Mikel—slain to protect the love that had only just returned to him.
Ahlvie—stolen by a dark goddess.
Avoca—decimated by his capture.
And another who was a lie.
Vera…or Benetta…or Benny. The woman Cyrene had put her trust in, trained with, walked across the world with her as a companion. Only to find out she wasn’t what she’d seemed. Not a Master Doma. Not a dragon-bound Society member. Not even…her friend. Not by a long shot.
She was the Creator. Creator!
The mother of all Doma. A goddess in her own right. And had been in hiding for two centuries. Maybe longer. She had fooled everyone. Even Cyrene.
Cyrene stopped before the tent flap and rested her palm on the hilt of Shadowbreaker, the Tendrille metal singing to her. She didn’t need to walk in there with her temper flaring. She needed to remain calm, get the information that they needed to win this war. That was all that mattered now.
She took a deep breath and let her excess magic drain into the honeycomb center of the red ruby in the hilt of her sword. A sword forged from the metal of the gods and immune to magic. A powerful weapon that had done next to nothing against the Destroyer, the dark goddess, Malysa.
Vera—Benny’s—sister.
Her anger rose up again, and she tamped it down. Vera had deceived Cyrene. And now, Malysa had taken control of her generals and was hell-bent on destroying the world once and for all. Cyrene could face Vera’s deception and Avoca’s sorrow and Orden’s disappointment if it meant fulfilling her destiny. She could.
She swallowed, released her energy, and stepped into the tent.
It was exactly how she had left them all those hours earlier. Vera was tied to a chair at the center of the room. Avoca was lying back on the cot, staring up at the ceiling, unseeing. The ice-white blade she normally carried was discarded nearby. Orden was reading out of a small notebook and glanced up at Cyrene’s entrance.
“What was decided?” he asked, setting the notebook aside.
“Nothing,” Cyrene said on a sigh. “Half of them want to push forward into Aurum and claim it. The other half want to march on Byern and claim it. Malysa is a secondary concern when land can be captured.”
“As expected then,” Orden said.
Cyrene nodded tightly. “Half of them are still adjusting to the revelation that magic even exists. There’s a clear divide between Gwynora and the Network and the Eleysian generals who seem to think they have the advantage because they have the numbers.”
“And Brigette?” Orden asked. “Did she call for your head?”
Cyrene scowled. Brigette was a problem. Though, technically, she wasn’t the queen of Eleysia at the moment, she had much sway. She had been the queen after her parents were murdered, but when the capital city was destroyed by Byern—thanks to Kael Dremylon—they had called a vote of no confidence. She was in the midst of a Queen’s War to reclaim her title. And she clearly thought blaming Cyrene for her parents’ deaths and throwing her weight against Cyrene would help her regain her throne.
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
“I’ll handle it.” She slid her steely-blue gaze to where Vera sat. She hadn’t said a word since Cyrene entered, but she was watching. “What’s Malysa’s next move?”