Brazen Dragon [TRADE PAPER ]

Kira Stillwater is blessed with the Eiran, a healer's gift that helps her to save lives, but a forbidden magic lies dormant inside her, and in Cabarac, magic is a death sentence.Most eligible young women in Cabarac have two possible futures: accept an offer of marriage or risk being gathered for the quota and shipped to the Legion Isles, never to be seen again. But when Kira forgoes her only chance for a betrothal token to save the life of a young boy, she faces a fate far more terrifying. Accused of using magic by the fanatical dispatcher, Piscator, a bewildered Kira is imprisoned for execution inside the brazen dragon. Her only option is to escape as part of the quota and flee.As she strives to control a magic that erupts whenever her life is threatened, Kira struggles to reconcile her burgeoning power with her healer's ethics to do no harm. Helped by an old conjurer, a blind seer nun and the shade of a dragon dead for two centuries, Kira discovers her entire life has been built on a lie designed toprotect her from the very threat she is now confronting. What she does with that knowledge could not only change her own future but the fate of an entire Kingdom.After a nursing career spanning more decades than she likes to admit, Barb retired to the coast of South Australia’ s stunning Fleurieu Peninsula with her beautiful and slightly neurotic Australian Shepherd, Shiloh.Nestled between rolling hills and a panoramic coastline, she lives amidst the wetlands of an eco-village, free to write the fantasy books she loves and always wanted to read.When not at her desk, Barb loves family get-togethers, playing sadly inconsistent golf, catching up with friends, and early morning walks along the beach to watch the sunrise.Strong female protagonist fantasy is popular and this book (and series) contributes strongly to this field.