Author: Ava Richardson
Series: Alveria Dragon Academy, #1
Publication Date: October 31, 2018
Synopsis: In Alveria, humans and dragons have existed side by side for centuries, but old tensions have grown and the kingdom is now divided between human nobles and the dragons that fear for the survival of their species. For the humans who serve the dragons, the future looks bleak: human Tamers outnumber the dragons and no viable eggs have been laid in over two decades.
For seventeen-year-old Kaelan Younger, growing up at the bottom of Alverian society has been hard, made even harder by the fact that she is loyal to the crown and has a habit of opening her mouth when she shouldn’t. But when her mother, dying of a mysterious disease, reveals the secret of her father’s identity, Kaelan is thrust into a world she was never prepared for – the opportunity to train at a prestigious school for those who share a dragon’s bloodline. The Alveria Akademy is a proving ground for humans and dragons alike, and could give Kaelan the chance to change her life forever.
Faced with a new life, and the gradual realization that she is meant for something more, Kaelan must reconcile not only her past, but also the course of her future. When her responsibilities as a Tamer collide with her feelings for Lasaro, Prince of Alveria and a powerful dragon shifter, it will take a strength she has never known to prepare her for the coming danger, and the fate of the dragons she has been sworn to serve.
Excerpt:
Kaelan’s hands trembled as she tore herbs ruthlessly from the ground of their little garden. She knocked a scrawny hen out of the way, ignoring the peck she received in retaliation and yanked a witch’s weed seedling up from its spot. The rich, earthy scent of it filled her nostrils as dirt clumps scattered outward from its curling white roots. What else did she need? She tried to recall the details of her mother’s teachings, focusing on the correct herbs for a healing tea, for waking a patient who slept too deeply.
"Redroot!" her grandmother shouted from inside the house. Kaelan scrambled over to the little flowering vines and yanked off three buds—her healer’s instinct, weak as it was, at least told her that was the right amount—and then carried everything inside to Haldis. The old woman took the plants but paused before turning away. "She will be well," she said gently. "It was only a faint. Your news was disturbing. She’ll wake soon."
Sagging with relief, Kaelan moved to her mother’s side and lifted her, placing her gently back into her bed. She tugged the threadbare blanket up to just under her chin, the way Ardis had always done for Kaelan when she’d been small.
Tears stung her eyes again. Her mother was okay, Haldis had said, but the truth lingered unspoken...for now. Ardis had caught a wasting illness from a villager she’d been trying to heal last year and nothing that Kaelan or Haldis could do would help. Her mother would wake from this faint, but one day soon, she wouldn’t.
Kaelan had seen how the stages of this illness went for the villagers. First, they’d waste away, getting to the point where they were hardly even able to stay upright for long. After a year or sometimes two of that, they would fall into a coma. About eight weeks later—if you could still get enough food into them to keep them alive that long—it was all over. Which was why, every time her mother had fallen asleep lately, Kaelan had lived in fear that this would be the day she wouldn’t wake. And at the same time, secretly, shamefully, she knew that at least then they would know how much time she had left. The waiting, the terrible uncertainty at this point in the illness... it was grueling for them all.
"What do you mean, my news was disturbing?" Kaelan asked, turning to her grandmother. Talking more about what had happened in the market was suddenly preferable to dwelling on the thin frame tucked under the covers.
But Haldis only tightened her lips as she retrieved a mortar and pestle from the cupboard. "This tea will help, but it won’t heal heal her," she reminded Kaelan instead.
"I know that," Kaelan snapped back.
"The energy of a dragon is the only thing that might heal her now," shewent on.
Kaelan gritted her teeth. She knew that, too. They’d all known it, but it was a pointless thing to say because, fascinated by the dragon-blooded nobles as Kaelan might be, she still understood that not a one of them would bother with healing a poor peasant woman. "Much good knowing it does," she muttered tightly.
But then she thought of the roar, and the skull, and the look on her mother’s face before she’d fainted. Something within her tightened and curled in on itself in fear. Suddenly, she didn’t want to talk about dragons at all.
______________________________________
-Kristen ♥
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