A Most Romantic Dragon

By Annie Reed

Mordived, the unserious dragon, returns in a brand new adventure!

Mordived expected nothing more of life than time to practice his comedy routines and catch the occasional wild pig for a midnight snack. He never expected to fall in love, but then again he never expected to meet the dragon of his dreams.

Only how can an unserious dragon go about asking a very serious, very traditional, very large dragon for permission to date his daughter? Especially without getting himself killed?

Includes the BONUS story "A Most Unserious Dragon."

"The appearance of a new Annie Reed story is a treat. Try one and you'll be hooked." -- Dave Hendrickson, author of CRACKING THE ICE.

"A friend recommended the works of Annie Reed. I was not disappointed. In fact, if her other shorts are as good as this one, I plan to read many more." -- Carol Davis Luce, author of NIGHT GAME (reviewing Annie Reed's short story CHANGELING)

Author Annie Reed is a prolific, award-winning writer whose stories have been published in numerous science fiction and fantasy anthologies.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Thunder Valley Press
• Release date: Mar 27, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476167916

Annie Reed

Award-winning author and editor Kristine Kathryn Rusch calls Annie Reed “one of the best writers I’ve come across in years.”Annie’s won recognition for her stellar writing across multiple genres. Her story “The Color of Guilt” originally published in Fiction River: Hidden in Crime, was selected as one of The Best Crime and Mystery Stories 2016. Her story “One Sun, No Waiting” was one of the first science fiction stories honored with a literary fellowship award by the Nevada Arts Foundation, and her novel PRETTY LITTLE HORSES was among the finalists in the Best First Private Eye Novel sponsored by St. Martin’s Press and the Private Eye Writers of America.A frequent contributor to the Fiction River anthologies and Pulphouse Fiction Magazine, Annie’s recent work includes the superhero origin novel FASTER, the near-future science fiction short novel IN DREAMS, and UNBROKEN FAMILIAR, a gritty urban fantasy mystery short novel. Annie’s also one of the founding members of the innovative Uncollected Anthology, a quarterly series of themed urban fantasy stories written by some of the best writers working today.Annie’s mystery novels include the Abby Maxon private investigator novels PRETTY LITTLE HORSES and PAPER BULLETS, the Jill Jordan mystery A DEATH IN CUMBERLAND, and the suspense novel SHADOW LIFE, written under the name Kris Sparks, as well as numerous other projects she can’t wait to get to. For more information about Annie, including news about upcoming bundles and publications, go to www.annie-reed.com.

Book preview

A Most Romantic Dragon

Annie Reed

with complete bonus story

A Most Unserious Dragon

A Most Romantic Dragon

Copyright © 2012 Annie Reed

A Most Unserious Dragon

Copyright © 2011 Annie Reed

Published by Thunder Valley Press

Cover and layout Copyright © 2012 Thunder Valley Press at Smashwords

Cover art Copyright 10-12-10 © julien Tromeur

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This story is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This is a work of fiction.  All characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.

Table of Contents

A Most Romantic Dragon

A Most Unserious Dragon (Bonus Story)

Copyright Information

About the Author

A Most Romantic Dragon

When love came to Mordived the dragon, it came as all things did—in a most unconventional way.

He hadn't expected to fall in love, you see. Quite content to live in the land ruled by his elder brother Gilgamule, Mordived spent his days soaring over his brother's land while he perfected his patented my wing's broken tuck-and-roll, first with his right wing and then his left, all the while keeping an eye out for errant knights determined to slay his more conventional brother. When Mordived got hungry, as he often did while practicing the aerial portion of his slapstick routine, he chased wild pigs through the woods or goats up the craggy side of a mountain. Mordived left the peasants' sheep and cattle alone. Not only did he think it rude to roast meat that didn't belong to him, the wooly coats of the sheep scratched his throat going down and cattle gave him indigestion.

On one such afternoon flight, Mordived caught sight of something quite unexpected—a dragon who wasn't his brother.

Mordived was so surprised he nearly failed to untuck his tucked right wing, which would have led to a nasty encounter with a rather tall and pointy pine tree. While Mordived didn't mind taking the occasional pratfall—it was, after all, his desire to make virgins laugh rather than eat them that made Mordived the black sheep, so to speak, of his family—a pratfall took timing and preparation, and Mordived was decidedly unprepared.

He was equally unprepared to discover that the unexpected dragon was a girl.

Mordived's entire experience with dragons of the female persuasion was limited to