A romantic high fantasy western with dragons, gunpowder, and gods gone mad. Charlotte Belmont, a spirited daughter of an oligarch turned rogue scholar, has defied her aristocratic life and fled her home to prove a theory no one believes-that dragons are far more than just beasts. But the New World is no place for the unprepared, and danger waits at every river crossing and canyon bend. Never mind the fact her father and would-be husband are hot on her tail. To survive, she and her mentor hire Callahan Morgan, a gun-slinging bounty hunter with a past soaked in blood and secrets. What begins as a scientific expedition soon spirals into a desperate flight-through outlaw towns, haunted deserts, and fungal forests-to outrun the forces hunting Charlotte down and the monstrous truth about Callahan's origin. As her unlikely band of outlaws and academics journey deeper into the untamed wilds, Charlotte will face ancient beasts, merciless men, and the truth behind her own fate. All the while, ancient gods are watching them and playing their own games on the dusty frontier.