At the Queen's Command

The colonies of Mistria are in turmoil. They face wars between the competing empires and and insurrection from natives and colonists alike. Prince Vladamier is a Norillian noble, and Nephew to King Richard. He has little political power, but struggles to ensure the colonists interests are represented back in the court. The one thing he does have is a wurm... one of the few existing "dragons" from a clutch of eggs discovered in the old world, hundreds of years ago. As Mistria swirl into chaos, Vlad is married off to an old world princess. This new alliance is supposed to help supply money and mercenaries to put down the various insurrections. But, nobody suspects that Vlad's wurm is about to undergo a change that will impact the worlds delicate political balance...

Skyhorse Publishing, under our Night Shade and Talos imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of titles for readers interested in science fiction (space opera, time travel, hard SF, alien invasion, near-future dystopia), fantasy (grimdark, sword and sorcery, contemporary urban fantasy, steampunk, alternative history), and horror (zombies, vampires, and the occult and supernatural), and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller, a national bestseller, or a Hugo or Nebula award-winner, we are committed to publishing quality books from a diverse group of authors.

Michael A. Stackpole is an award-winning novelist, graphic novelist, podcaster, screenwriter, game designer, computer game designer, and editor who is best known for his New York Times bestselling novels, Rogue Squadron and I, Jedi.
Since 1988, he's published more than forty novels and was the first author
to have work available in Apple's Appstore. He s the driving force behind the Chain Story Project. He lives in Arizona, and enjoys indoor soccer and swing dancing during his spare time.
To learn more about Mike and to find other stories about the characters of
the Crown Colonies, please visit his website at stormwolf.com. You can also find him in Second Life, where he holds weekly chats about writing and publishing issues (and where an earlier version of this novel was read aloud to raise money for the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life).