After quite a few of the dragon warriors in this world, apparently called Gaia, have already found human mates, I was fascinated to learn, at the end of the previous book, that apparently King Dravick himself is more than casually interested in a human servant by the name of Aaron. Now, you’d think that, being the king, he can do whatever he wants, but not so amongst the dragons. The prejudice against humans, and against those interested in humans as mates, is strong enough that even the king has to be careful. Not because anyone would harm him, although even that seems possible, but because the human-haters might retaliate against the human member of the couple. In a tale full of the discoveries of finally admitted love, emerging anger on the part of the haters, and a gruesome attack on Aaron, the king’s chosen mate, this is the story of King Dravick and Aaron learning that hiding their love is not the solution.

Dravick may have ascended the throne because he killed his tyrant of an uncle, but he seems to be quite a timid king. He is careful, doesn’t want to upset the existing balance, and even though he wants to have Aaron by his side, he is not exactly pushing for it with all his might. As they get closer though, and as Dravick begins to understand how much he loves Aaron, he also begins to change into a more self-confident ruler. This transformation is accelerated when Aaron is taken and beaten up by some idiot dragons who think they’ll teach him a lesson. Dravick begins to come into his own, puts his foot down, and starts to behave like a true king.

Aaron is just a servant in his own mind. Nobody special, he was convicted of the crime of too much debt (which in his case was a total lie), and left on the stake for the dragons to get. Now he is living a life of luxury; yes, he is a servant, but he has clothes, food, and a place to sleep each night. He has also fallen in love with the king of the dragons and even though he knows that is “forbidden”, he cannot seem to help himself. He doesn’t expect much, and even encourages Dravick to be careful around others, but he also secretly wants more. The price he pays is high – but in the end, it may be the only way to get people and dragons to realize how idiotically short-sighed their bigotry is.

If you like stories about dragon kings and what they learn when they fall in love, if you believe a human servant can figure out how to be a king’s mate, and if you believe that love can overcome all obstacles, then you will probably like this novella.


NOTE: This book was provided by Siren Publishing for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews.
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