Showing results by author "Krista Graves" in All Categories

Dark mages don't deal in warnings—only executions. So when assassin-in-training Esme Salem is tasked with infiltrating a magical defense academy and eliminating Kieran Mazrov—a deadly mage with powers that could erase her kind from existence—it should be treacherous but simple. A poisonous jab to his throat. A garrote bracelet slit across his neck. No hesitation. What she doesn't expect is Professor Dayn.

Esme Salem wakes beneath the earth in a palace of obsidian and flame: the heart of the hidden dragon realm of Draethys. Her captor, Lord Daynthazar, the firstborn prince, claims their blood has been irreversibly bound. By ancient dragon law, that makes her part of his hoard. Trapped in a kingdom built on fire and fear, Esme must decide fast whether Dayn is her captor, her only chance to survive—or both.

They stick out. They change the conversation. They challenge the traditional narrative. They are outcasts - isolated, different, misunderstood. Being normal is nice. But being an outcast is a real part of the human experience. Have you have ever had the feeling of being alone in some way, of being on the outside looking in? If so, then the characters in these short stories will move you - sometimes by their depravity, sometimes by their sorrow...and sometimes by their joy.