When Dealing with Dragons

By Yolande Kleinn

When Prince Ercole Calistro's royal parents summon Sir Marion Rook to hunt a troublesome dragon, Ercole is prepared to hate the man on sight. He doesn't care that Rook turns out to be handsome and infuriatingly likable. Superficial charms are meaningless in a man cruel enough to kill a dragon who hasn't even hurt anyone.

When Rook returns from his quest bearing gifts, Ercole wants no part of them. He refuses to share in the spoils of a grievous wrong. Bad enough he failed to sway the king and queen from this course; he has no intention of befriending the sword arm they hired to enact such an injustice.

But Ercole's slights aren't met with the anger he expects. And when Rook admits a dangerous secret, the prince realizes he may have misjudged the old knight after all.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Yolande Kleinn
• Release date: Jun 23, 2023
• ISBN: 9781946316325

Yolande Kleinn

Yolande Kleinn may be a shameless dreamer and a stubborn optimist, but she is also a proud purveyor of romance and hijinx. Excitable, fastidious and a little eclectic, she spends every spare moment writing the stories she wants to read. If she can drag other people into the pool along with her, then so much the better.

Book preview

When Dealing with Dragons

by Yolande Kleinn

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With three older sisters—not to mention his mother and father who remain hale and reliable in their shared rule—Prince Ercole Calistro has no fear of ever inheriting the kingdom of Danna.

A small army of nieces and nephews further ensures he is safe from the unwanted weight of the crown. Ercole would be grateful for them for these purely selfish reasons, but he's also desperately fond of his family. He has no wish for children of his own, no matter how staunchly his father tries to convince him he will change his mind one day. He loves the little ones running constantly rampant around the keep, but there is a vast difference between this protective adoration and a desire to raise his own brood. Hell, even if he did want children—a difficult prospect to imagine—one cannot sire offspring alone.

And Ercole has never felt the slightest desire to invite a woman into his bed.

Today, there are more pressing topics than a stubborn prince's refusal to court a wife. Ercole makes a daily habit of attending the Royal Council, an effort far beyond his duties as a prince barely within the line of succession. Even his sisters don't attend so often, though the eldest comes close, and would probably be present every day if she didn't have additional responsibilities.

It's not that Ercole has anything to prove. It's simply that he knows these things matter. Honor, duty, family.

There is little else he can do to answer these callings, so he remains as involved as procedure and ceremony allow. He's ventured beyond the kingdom's borders only twice in his life, both times under Danna's banner, with noisy fanfare and a full military entourage. Ercole has taken well to diplomacy. He hopes he will be sent on more such missions. But for now, he sits at his mother's right hand, while both ruling monarchs—King Ivo and Queen Linea Calistro—command the room.

The council's business has concluded, as far as Ercole knows, so he startles when Ivo announces, I've sent an official summons to the Regent of Vos Cosmas, requesting the services of Sir Marion Rook. It's my hope that he can help with the crisis in Haldale.

Ercole blinks in surprise. Yes, something needs to be done to help the farmers and herdsmen who make their home at the base of Mount Meridee. But he can't imagine how the services of a single man—even the most decorated and infamous knight of a neighboring kingdom—can resolve the ongoing problem. It's fortunate that the peace between their two nations, carefully negotiated by Ercole's own hand, holds solid enough to allow such an exchange. But that doesn't explain his parents' reasoning.

Help how? he asks, when no one else joins in his confusion.

By slaying the dragon, of course, Linea answers, as though it is the most reasonable and obvious thing in the world.

Ice floods through Ercole's veins at this pronouncement, but he waits until the council session has ended without contributing another word. The city officials, royal alchemists, court advisors, and military generals all slip out of the room as their business concludes. Ivo and Linea are always the last to depart, meeting their personal guards in the hall outside, but today they linger even after the rest are gone. They sit in beams of sunlight that slant down from high clerestory windows above the chamber, watching him with mild curiosity. Ercole rises slowly from his seat, fighting to contain a shaky rage that will do him no favors in arguing his case.

He needs to remain calm. Reason alone will serve him here.

You can't send a knight to kill the dragon.

Both queen and king remain seated, peering up at him with their own distinct expressions. Linea looks