Dragon Temple Series

In violation of every law of the Dragon Temple, which forbids women to own property, Zarq Darquel has secured a dragon estate for herself. But now what Waikar Re Kratt, Zarq’s former overlord, has begun a fanatical crusade to find her, last ally—Kratt’s turncoat brother—can no longer stand between her and the threat of imprisonment. Zarq does not see herself as a revolutionary, but her enemies give her no choice. Abandoning the estate where she thought she would be safe, she journeys deep into the jungle in search of an ancient dragon secret that will give her the power to overthrow both Kratt and the corrupt Dragon Temple. She takes with her some of the female dragons from her own estate, and in the jungle she once again risks the dragons’ highly addictive hallucinogenic venom, renewing a craving that is becoming an obsession…

The Dragon Temple denies the role of dragonmaster to women, but Zarq is convinced that the doctrine allowing it has been deliberately lost to the obscurity of history. She begins a desperate search through the Temple’s archives, while enduring the rigorous athletic training required of her apprenticeship. Her fellow apprentices are fiercely competitive, and her overlord, Waikar Re Kratt, has taken an unnerving interest in her. 

Yet all this pales in comparison to her craving for hallucinogenic dragon venom and her desire to understand the dragons themselves—both of which make her a vessel to receive the ancestral memories of the great beasts. Now, eager for the knowledge only Zarq can uncover, the Temple has her imprisoned and subjected to starvation and torture—all to make her reveal the dragons’ deepest secrets….

Like her half-breed mother, young Zarq Darquel can’t always hold her tongue. A peasant on a large dragon estate, she goes unnoticed by the Temple of the Dragon—until she accidentally captures the attention of an eccentric and dangerous dragonmaster, unleashing a storm of tragedy. Her clan is plunged into destitution, her beautiful sister, Waivia, sold into slavery, and her mother lost to madness.
 
Desperate to find Waivia, Zarq and her delirious mother flee through the underworld of their land. Consumed with the desire for revenge, Zarq develops a taste for the highly addictive venom of the dragons she has been taught to revere—and with this poison, she imbibes their memories and glimpses a plot for social revolution. But to achieve it, she must defy not just sexual taboos and patriarchal conventions, but the Emperor who rules her nation.