They say a Rider in possession of a good blade must be in want of a monster to slay-- and Merybourne Manor has plenty of monsters. Aliza Bentaine has already lost one sister to the invading gryphons. So when Lord Merybourne hires a band of Riders to hunt down the horde, Aliza is relieved her home will soon be safe again. She doesn't expect a clash of wills with dragonrider, Alastair Daired, nor the mystery that follows them from Merybourne Manor ......

Charlotte Collins, née Lucas, is the respectable wife of Hunsford's vicar, and sees to her duties by rote: keeping house, caring for their adorable daughter, visiting parishioners, and patiently tolerating the lectures of her awkward husband and his condescending patroness, Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Intelligent, pragmatic, and anxious to escape the shame of spinsterhood, Charlotte chose this life, an inevitable one so socially acceptable that its...