For over fifty years, the Realm of Shartres has endured relentless attacks from ogres. The kingdom's survival grows dire when ogres use dragons to decimate the Shartres warriors and terrorize towns, stealing cattle and children alike.
Everything is meat to an ogre.
Marshal Buckleran, leader of the king's guard, is determined to protect his realm. In a daring move, he steals five dragon eggs, nurturing the hatchlings, hoping to turn them into allies.
Yet, his every attempt to train human riders for the dragons fails.
Enter Rachel Stoi, an ostracized warrior with a secret. She knows why the dragons reject human riders and forces Buckleran to see the truth.
Armed with this new understanding, Buckleran selects Rachel and four other women to ride the dragons, a decision that could change the tide of the war. Or be the fifth failure in a dubious effort to give his kingdom a chance at survival.
Tensions run high as Buckleran, drawn to Rachel, struggles to maintain his duty-bound distance. Their shared kiss haunts him, but the strict rules against relationships between superiors and subordinates bind him.
Rachel, misinterpreting his aloofness, makes their training sessions rife with conflict. Yet, her determination to succeed as a dragon rider proves stronger than her sense of rejection.
As they train and fight side by side, their bond deepens amid the chaos of war. The stakes are immense: Rachel might die in battle, never knowing Buckleran's true feelings, or survive only to resent him.
Buckleran faces the impossible choice of winning the war but potentially losing the woman he loves. Will he give up the only weapon they have or put the woman he loves between Shartres and their voracious enemies?
In a land ravaged by war and bound by duty, can love survive?
Buy this romantic high fantasy adventure, book 1 in the Fifth Flight series, because every battle for love is worth the fight.
