Tarnished Knight

Laurel is an aberration. She is an Assassin who doesn’t want to kill. She thinks she knows where Morrigan hid mythical gold when Morgan Le Fey released her wrath upon Arthur and Merlin 800 years ago. Laurel has bonded with a baby dragon and hopes to use Maeve to sniff out the treasure. Traveling across terrain rife with raiding, Laurel opts to hire a surly knight for protection so she won’t have to kill anybody. Sir Donovan of Baltimore is between commissions and hasn’t got two silvers to rub together. When the young Assassin approaches him, his first response is to say no to her polite request. He’s dealt with Assassins before. They’re not to be trusted. However, she is so young, so innocent looking. And she’s carrying a baby in an osier basket. His conscious and empty coin purse convince him to say yes.
An encounter with a male water nymph reveals Laurel’s real age. She’s not a child, but a delectable female in the prime of life. And that’s no baby. It’s a dragon! When Danu’s spark of attraction hits her and Donovan, they resist the overwhelming desire that washes over them for neither of them are ready for family life. Danu has other plans and her fairies derive perverse pleasure watching as Laurel and Donovan fight the magical attraction. As their trek progress, the spark grows into a conflagration and their number increases. Two waifs and a mongrel dog are rescued and join them on their westward march through dangerous territory to the top of Mount Carrauntoohill.
It will take all of them—human, fey, and beast—working as a family to survive this quest for treasure.