The Domina Read online

  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?”