Stormbound Crown (eBook)

The Dragon Seas Saga - Book One

Mostafizar Rahman (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025 | 1. Auflage
351 Seiten
Publishdrive (Verlag)
978-0-00-112725-8 (ISBN)

Infos

Stormbound Crown

Book I

She refused the crown.
The sea refused to be ruled.
An empire refused to let go.

Aurelia Solmar was born to rule Solvara’s seas—but she chose exile over dominion. When a forbidden bond awakens between her and the ocean itself, the empire does not see a woman choosing restraint. It sees a weapon that must be controlled.

They are wrong.

As Solvara tightens its grip—rewriting law, weaponizing order, and building cages for forces that cannot be owned—Aurelia chooses a more dangerous path: refusal without disappearance. She will not rule. She will not obey. And she will not become the storm they fear.

At her side sails Kael Vire, a strategist forged by loss and necessity. Once a pirate, now an unavoidable force, Kael wages a war not of conquest but exposure—turning systems against themselves, forcing power to act in daylight. Together, they fracture the illusion of inevitability that holds empires together.

But refusing power has a cost.

As witnesses multiply and myths spread, restraint becomes a battlefield of its own. The sea listens. The world watches. And when Solvara makes its final move—deploying force where law has failed—Aurelia must prove that the greatest power is not domination, but the courage to withhold consent.

Stormbound Crown is an epic fantasy of political tension, moral defiance, and slow-burn power—where storms are not unleashed, but endured; where victory is not conquest, but consequence; and where the most dangerous act is choosing to remain human in a world that demands symbols.

Perfect for readers who love:

Epic fantasy with political depth

Slow-burn power and restraint-based magic

Anti-imperial narratives

Morally complex partnerships

Stories where refusal reshapes the world

Textauszug

Chapter One: The Palace and the Lie of the Crown

The sea was too calm.

Princess Aurelia Solmar had learned, over the course of twenty-one carefully measured years, that stillness was never a blessing in Solvara. Calm meant calculation. Silence meant something had already been decided without her.

She stood at the edge of the eastern balcony, bare hands resting against sun-warmed marble, and watched the Dragon Seas stretch endlessly toward the horizon. The water glimmered in shades of turquoise and molten gold, broken only by the distant silhouettes of ships moving along the trade routes—thin, dark lines cutting through a sea that had once belonged to dragons.

The air tasted wrong.

Too heavy. Too quiet. Even the gulls had vanished.

Behind her, the palace breathed with life.

Music drifted through the open archways—low drums, bright strings, the traditional harmonies of Solvara meant to evoke prosperity and peace. Laughter followed, practiced and polished. Silk whispered against stone floors. Perfume and spiced wine mingled with the scent of burning oil in the wall lamps.

A celebration.

For Aurelia, it felt like a funeral.

“You should not be alone,” her mother said softly.

Queen Seraphine Solmar stepped onto the balcony, her presence cool and commanding even without her crown. She wore gold tonight, as she always did when the court gathered—layers of shimmering fabric that caught the dying sunlight and reflected it outward, as if the world existed only to illuminate her.

Aurelia did not turn. “I’m not alone. The sea is here.”

Her mother’s lips tightened. “The sea does not rule kingdoms.”

“No,” Aurelia said quietly. “But it remembers.”

Queen Seraphine joined her at the balustrade, gaze fixed forward. “Do not start tonight.”

Aurelia’s fingers curled against the stone. The marble had been quarried from the heart of Solvara itself—white, veined with gold, polished to perfection. Every surface in the palace was designed to project permanence. Stability. Control.

All lies.

“They are all here,” the queen continued. “The ambassadors. The trade lords. The High Council. This night matters.”

“This night decides my future,” Aurelia said.

“Yes.” Her mother did not deny it. “And the future of the Isles.”

Aurelia finally turned, studying the woman who had shaped her into a weapon disguised as a daughter. Queen Seraphine’s dark hair was woven into an intricate crown-braid, threaded with golden pins. Her face bore no lines of doubt, no cracks of uncertainty. She had been born to rule and had never questioned her right to do so.

“I was promised a choice,” Aurelia said.

The queen’s gaze flicked to her then—sharp, assessing. “You were promised a throne.”

“That is not the same thing.”

“It is everything,” Seraphine replied. “You cannot afford to be sentimental. Not now. Not with the Dragon Seas so close to fracturing.”

Aurelia laughed softly, bitter. “The Dragon Seas fractured long before I was born.”

Once—before treaties and trade routes, before crowns and councils—the seas had been ruled by wings. Dragons had soared above the archipelago, bound to bloodlines that understood the balance between power and restraint. Solvara’s ancestors had been among them, chosen not for ambition, but for loyalty to the old laws.

Then something had changed.

The bonds weakened. Dragons vanished. And Solvara learned to rule without them.

Or so the histories claimed.

“Smile tonight,” Queen Seraphine said. “Listen. Agree. That is all that is required of you.”

“And after?” Aurelia asked. “After I am married into an alliance I did not choose?”

“You will rule,” her mother said, voice low and ironclad. “You will shape the future as I have. You will understand why this was necessary.”

Necessary.

The word tasted like ash.

Aurelia turned back to the sea, fighting the familiar ache in her chest. Somewhere beyond the horizon lay the other isles—Brinefall with its lawless ports and free captains, Ashkara with its smoking peaks and fire forges, Marrowdeep with its coral caverns and ancient magic whispered to linger in the stone.

And farther still—Caldera.

The sacred isle.

Forbidden airspace. Dragon graveyard. The place no Solvaran ship sailed near anymore.

Aurelia had dreamed of it since childhood.

She had dreamed of wings.

“Come,” Queen Seraphine said. “They are about to announce it.”

The horns sounded within the palace—three clear notes echoing through the halls.

The call to gather.

Aurelia straightened her spine and lifted her chin. Years of training snapped into place, burying fear beneath composure. She followed her mother back inside, each step echoing against stone older than the crown itself.

The Grand Hall of Solvara unfolded before them in splendor.

Golden pillars rose toward a vaulted ceiling painted with scenes of the Dragon Seas at peace—ships sailing beneath cloudless skies, island banners snapping in friendly winds, a time that had never truly existed. Chandeliers of crystal and sunstone hung overhead, scattering light in warm prisms across the gathered court.

Nobles filled the hall, their attire a display of wealth and influence. Silks dyed in rare pigments. Jewels mined from Ashkara’s depths. Coral and pearl worked into intricate designs that marked lineage and allegiance.

Every face turned as Aurelia entered.

She felt their eyes like weight upon her skin.

There she is, they seemed to say. The crown-to-be.

She took her place beside the Sun Throne, the carved stone seat reserved for Solvara’s ruler. It loomed behind her, its back shaped like rising waves crowned with a solar disk. The throne had never felt like a symbol of protection.

Only expectation.

The High Chancellor stepped forward, robes whispering across the marble floor. His voice carried effortlessly, honed by years of command.

“People of Solvara,” he announced, arms spread wide. “Honored guests from across the Isles. Tonight, we celebrate unity.”

Applause thundered.

“Trade flourishes. The seas are open. The threats that once plagued our routes have been driven back.”

Aurelia’s jaw tightened.

Pirates, he meant.

Men and women who refused Solvara’s rule. Who sailed without banners. Who answered to no crown.

“We stand at the dawn of a stronger era,” the Chancellor continued. “An era secured by alliance.”

Beside Aurelia, her mother’s presence felt immovable.

“And so,” the Chancellor said, smiling broadly, “it is my honor to announce—”

The floor trembled.

Just slightly.

Aurelia felt it through the soles of her shoes, a vibration so faint it might have been imagined. A few goblets rattled on nearby tables. Someone laughed nervously.

The Chancellor paused.

Another tremor followed—stronger.

The chandeliers swayed.

Silence rippled outward as the court registered the disturbance. Murmurs rose, sharp and questioning.

“What is this?” a noble whispered.

Aurelia’s heart began to race.

She knew this feeling.

Not fear—not entirely.

Recognition.

The air shifted, pressure building until her ears rang. The scent of salt intensified, rolling in through the open arches in a sudden gust. Flames in the wall lamps flickered violently.

Queen Seraphine turned to her. “Aurelia.”

Before she could respond, a scream echoed from outside the hall.

Then another.

The great eastern windows shattered inward in an explosion of glass and wind.

Salt air roared through the chamber, extinguishing flames and sending courtiers scattering. Shards glittered as they fell, slicing through silk and skin alike. Chaos erupted in an instant.

“Protect the queen!” someone shouted.

Aurelia rushed to the broken windows.

Outside, the harbor burned with turmoil.

Ships strained against their moorings as waves rose unnaturally high, smashing against the docks. Masts snapped. Lanterns toppled, plunging sections of the port into darkness. The sea churned, black and violent, as if something vast moved beneath its surface.

Lightning split the sky.

For a heartbeat, everything froze in stark white light.

And Aurelia saw it.

A shadow passed over the moon.

Wings—enormous, spanning the sky itself—cut through the storm clouds. Scales caught the lightning, dark and iridescent. The air screamed as the creature banked, its presence bending wind and water alike.

A dragon.

Gasps filled the hall.

“No,” someone sobbed. “They’re gone. They’re all gone.”

The dragon roared.

The sound was not merely heard—it was felt, reverberating through bone and blood. The sea answered in kind, waves surging higher, fury unleashed.

Aurelia could not look away.

Something inside her responded, a flare of heat deep in her chest, sudden and fierce. Her breath caught as a strange pull tugged at her senses, as if the storm itself had turned its attention toward her.

Aurelia.

Her name seemed to echo in her mind, carried on wind and thunder.

Hands grabbed her arms.

“Get her out!” the Chancellor shouted.

Guards surrounded her, dragging her backward as another blast rocked the palace. Stone cracked beneath her feet. The ceiling groaned.

“Aurelia!” her...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 22.12.2025
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Fantasy / Science Fiction ► Fantasy
• ISBN-10: 0-00-112725-X / 000112725X
• ISBN-13: 978-0-00-112725-8 / 9780001127258