Winner of Queer Indie Awards 2023 Best Debut Novel. Shortlisted for Aurealis Awards 2023 Best Fantasy Novel.

A bond she didn’t choose.

A love she can’t escape.

A creature so powerful it bends the limits of time…

Smart, sassy, and sanguine. Des Mildue is a traveling sellsword in Rescalin, a dry and dusty kingdom full of rogues, opportunists, and thieves. She keeps her nose clean, brazens it out with a blade when she can’t, and keeps others at arm’s length where they can’t mess up her plans.

That is until a sword fight gone wrong leaves her tied by blood to the first dragon hatched in centuries. Suddenly, Des has to contend with a new voice in her head: haughty, willful Esquidamelion. Des wants to leave Squid by the roadside, but the blood bond has other ideas.

With half the world on their tail—including her beautiful, faithless ex Liv, who Des is definitely over—Des must search for answers for why so many are willing to kill, maim, and torture to get their hands on Squid. But she’s beginning to suspect her blood bond has tied her not only to a dragon but to a fight for Rescalin’s future.

…and no one else even knows it’s at risk.

If you like the kind of story that grabs you by the shirtfront and hauls you through mystery, magic, adventure, and betrayal with a side of sapphic romance, pick up The Blood-Born Dragon, the first in a new trilogy from author J.C. Rycroft.