Red-Haired Ash Reads

Shaw and Merrill are sent to Stonemore to investigate their ruler, the Divine, and figure out why they are killing children with magic. Shaw finds himself distracted by the beautiful Nia who he can’t get enough of, but can he trust her not to be a spy.

Shaw is known as the quiet dragon king. He rarely speaks but around Nia he always has something to say. HIs adventure in Stonemore doesn’t go as planned but he does find his mate in the beautiful and strong Nia. Shaw was a great hero who goes out of his way to protect Nia. He just wants her to have her freedom and is determined to give it to her at any cost, even if he has to put himself in a dangerous position. 

Nia is a courtesan slave of the Divine who has been tasked with brining a Dragon King to the Divine. But she instead finds herself falling for Shaw and wishing for a different life. I have mixed feelings about Nia. While she is a very strong woman who has done anything to survive, I didn’t love the fact that for over half of their relationship she believed she was only feeling attraction to Shaw because of magic. Yes, she has been brought up to believe that Dragon Kings are magical beings who can spell people but it still really bothered me that she thought all her feelings were because of magic. 

The plot to figure out why kids are being killed is very interesting. There was some new information with this one but we still have a lot of questions about why magic is so off limits and how they are targeting magical beings. I am very interested in seeing how this overarching story plays out and if a war actually ends up happening between the humans and the kings. 

Trigger warnings:  slavery, sexual training and sex work, rape, starvation, death of siblings from starvation, abandonment by mother; Shaw and his siblings were abused by their father. 

*ARC provided by the author for an honest review.*

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Previous books and reviews for the series:

1. Dragon Revealed
2. Dragon Mine
3. Dragon Unbound