The Rose Orphan, Book 1 in the Tale of the Dragon's Last Child

A thousand years after the Great War that broke the world, an orphaned girl is washed upon a land embroiled in turmoil. Her rescuer is a princess escaping captivity from the Usurper of half the known lands. Gifting her with a name, Princess Isabella and her Guardsman Maerlahn take her with them on their escape to the free lands of the North. They bear with them dire news of the Usurper’s reach into the dark powers and alliance with the very evil of the Dark God Himself. But getting home is harder then it sounds, not merely for the might of the Usurper arrayed against them, but for the orphan girl’s own past that now follows far too closely. Trailing her on a bid for vengeance is a youth willing to strike any bargain to find his quarry, and the dark creature known only as the Bride will grants his dire wish. She wants the Princess merely as a sacrifice to Prophecy - but the girl, this orphan from afar more distant than any voyage across the seas, could bear the promise of all their dark intents. Or be the light that saves them all…