The Dragon Round (Dragon #1)(104)

In the highest room of her compound, the White Widow looks up through tall windows at the dragon circling the tower. The flames on the dome are dying down. The cheers are not. She gongs for one of her maids.

The young woman has rough hands like most maids, but her calluses didn’t come from churning a lye pot. She’s better fed too, and her arms and legs are taut as drumheads.

“Dress like a trade rider this time,” Asper tells her, “and bring word to my father immediately. They may close the gates. Hanosh has a dragon.” It swoops low over the compound, and Asper realizes who the rider is. “No, tell him Herse has a dragon. And whether or not we’re at war already, Ayden must take it. Or kill it.”





Acknowledgments


Nobody makes a book alone.

I’d like to thank:

My first readers: David Fantini, Brian Hopper, Eric B. Lass, and Nathan Ophardt, for their excellent advice and much-appreciated encouragement.

My team at Simon451, especially my editor, Brit Hvide. Her editorial vision and enthusiasm is why I signed with them. Her pointed notes and unflagging desire to get the book right demonstrated that I’d made a good decision. Elina Vaysbeyn, my online marketer, gave me extensive notes on my website. Tornstein Nordstrand painted the perfect cover image. Jonathan Evans and Dominick Montalto made sure that every comma was in its place.

My former employer, John Wiley & Sons, which, by laying me off and giving me a generous severance package, thereby provided both the impetus and the means to write this book.

My wife, Chris Condry, and our daughter, Alice Hope Condry-Power, for many things, but in particular for their forgiveness. I can get testy when I’m writing. The same is true when I’m hungry, but that’s not important here.

And finally my agent, Eric Nelson, who found the book a wonderful home, who gave me critical advice along the way, and who inspired it in the first place. One day he said, “Why would someone write a book for kids without a dragon?” and I thought, “Why would someone write a book for anyone without a dragon?”