Book Summary: Orphaned after a fever epidemic, Creel befriends a dragon and unknowingly inherits an object that can either save or destroy her kingdom.Creel is offered up to a dragon in the hope that a young nobleman would rescue her and take her for his wife without her having a dowry. As it turns out, the dragon, Theoradus doesn’t want to fight the nobleman. Creel offers to get the young man out of the way in exchange for something from his horde. She assumes he collects gold (don’t all dragons?), but it turns out he collects shoes of all kinds. Creel selects some beautiful blue slippers, talks the young nobleman into going home, and sets herself on her journey to the King’s Seat where she will work in embroidery until she’s able to open her own dress shop.
Along the way, she is rescued by another dragon, Shardas, who lets her live with him for awhile to sew samples of her work. He collects stained glass windows and Creel’s embroidery work is inspired by the glass designs. In the King’s Seat Creel meets the king’s younger son, Luka, who helps her find a place to stay the night. Her hostess helps her find a place of employment the very next day.
In the story that follows, Creel discovers her slippers have powers over the dragons. When they are stolen away by the foreign princess (Amalia) who is to marry the king’s older son, the story escalates with the royal family seeking to destroy the dragons, or at least take the power away from Amalia. Many lives are lost among the humans and the dragons. Through Creel’s valiant efforts, the kingdom is saved and Amalia perishes in the Boiling Sea. It seems that Shardas has also perished in the sea.
The king offers Creel the chance to marry the crown prince, but she refuses and requests to have her own shop instead. (She is also far more interested in Luka, anyway.) A year later, after the kingdom has gone through some serious rebuilding, Luka comes to Creel and tells her that a stained glass window has been stolen from a chapel, then off they go dragon hunting!
I really enjoyed this story because it was always full of hope. Things got challenging and uncomfortable, but everyone put forth their best efforts to resolve their troubles in a good way.
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