Listen, this was supposed to be simple. Kaelin Thorn: professional assassin, expert brooder, collector of emotional scars had one mission. Kill the king. Straightforward. Efficient. The sort of thing you can check off before lunch. But somewhere between the exploding Ale Trials, the cursed inn, and the incident with the goat. (Why are there so many goats?) Kaelin accidentally acquired a travel companion: Tobias, a bright-eyed mage with a suspiciously soft heart and a tendency to monologue about feelings. A soundtrack: Brug, a non-binary orc with a lute and lyrics. Oh, and Timber—the world’s most judgmental dog, who communicates entirely through eyebrow movements and existential sighs. Now, Dear Reader, our dear assassin finds herself knee-deep in other people’s problems, which, as it turns out, are harder to stab than advertised. There will be quests. There will be chaos. There will be . . . feelings (and Kaelin’s tragic attempts to avoid them). Will she save the realm? Probably, but not intentionally. She might just save herself—between side quests, snark, and the occasional dagger to the heart (metaphorical or otherwise). Side Quest is a cozy, chaotic fantasy for anyone who’s ever tried to stay on mission and ended up adopting a mutt, a mage, and a moral compass instead.
The palace is owed taxes. Alex Mauricio needs to pay it and keep her brother out of the army. It should be a simple exchange-her freedom for a clean slate. But nothing is simple when you can speak to animals in a kingdom that wants to use its dragons as weapons. As a handmaid, Alex expected the nobles' cruelty. What she didn't expect was catching the attention of the kingdom's ruthless ruler, who sees her gift as the key to controlling his prized dragons. Now trapped in a deadly game, Alex must survive trials to prove her worth or face consequences. As Alex fights for her freedom, she discovers that the greatest threat may not be the dragons she fears, but the humans who wish to rule them. With her family's fate hanging in the balance and a King who will stop at nothing to control her, Alex faces an impossible choice: refuse the king, and her family pays, or submit, and risk betraying the very creatures who have chosen to trust her.
