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    The Queen's Mystery
    The Queen's Mystery
    The Queen's Mystery
    Ebook105 pages1 hour

    The Queen's Mystery

    By Jamie K. Schmidt

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    About this ebook

    In this prequel to USA Today bestselling author Jamie K. Schmidt's The Emerging Queen's series, Bianca is a human with a problem. She just landed her dream job of working as a dragon-human liaison at the Smythe Corporation, but for some reason dragon studs keep following her around. When Niall, the All Knowing, a golden Celtic dragon sends her to get a rare book written by the Order of the Dragon Slayers, Bianca is stunned by her attraction to the esoteric book store owner. Byron is a dragon who is still mourning his long lost Queen. The fact that Bianca's scent reminds him of his only love is enough to intrigue him, but when the Order of the Dragon Slayers take her away from him, it brings out the protector in him and he'll stop at nothing to get her back.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJamie K. Schmidt
    Release dateMay 27, 2016
    ISBN9781311621030
    The Queen's Mystery
    Author

    Jamie K. Schmidt

    USA Today bestselling author, Jamie K. Schmidt, writes erotic contemporary love stories and paranormal romances.  Her steamy, romantic comedy, Life’s a Beach, reached #65 on USA Today, #2 on Barnes & Noble and #9 on Amazon and Apple Books Her Club Inferno series from Random House’s Loveswept line has hit both the Amazon and Barnes & Noble top one hundred lists. The first book in the series, Heat, put her on the USA Today bestseller list for the first time, and is a #1 Amazon bestseller.  Her dragon paranormal romance series has been called “fun and quirky” and “endearing.” Partnered with New York Times bestselling author and former porn actress, Jenna Jameson, Jamie’s hardcover debut, SPICE, continues Jenna’s FATE trilogy.

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      Book preview

      The Queen's Mystery - Jamie K. Schmidt

      This story takes place before the events in The Queen’s Wings.

      The Queen's Mystery is a work of fiction. Names, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

      Copyright @2016 by Jamie K. Schmidt.

      All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means.

      By payment of required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this book. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented without the express written permission of copyright owner.

      Please Note

      The reverse engineering, uploading, and/or distributing of this book via the internet or via any other means without the permission of the copyright owner is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author's rights is appreciated.

      No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publish­er, except where permitted by law.

      Cover Design by Thomas Schmidt

      Thank you. 

      Chapter One

      She walks in beauty , like the night

      Bianca stood outside the dragon's bookstore and willed herself not to run away.  She felt like the Little Match Girl. The biting wind cut through her coat and snowflakes dusted her eyelashes.  Instead of lighting matches to keep warm, she was huddled in the doorway trying to figure out why the musky, Old Spice scent of the dragon smelled like coming home.

      Byron's Classic Books looked like an antique store from the outside.  It was a well kept secret in the dragon community. Nothing on the outside of the shop gave it away.  Byron liked his privacy, disliked humans in general, and lived for books of all shapes and sizes.  While the other stores on this block were decked out in holiday cheer, the bookstore was dark and uninviting.

      Glancing down at the small children's book Niall had given her to bribe her way in, Bianca noticed her hand was shaking when she wiped the plastic covering.  She wasn't afraid of the dragon, she was afraid of herself.  She was going to start her new job at Smythe Industries in January as a dragon human liaison.  It was a golden opportunity, and she was going to blow it if Byron couldn’t help her.  Apparently, this little book was the key to his cooperation.

      Before she left Niall’s office, she flipped through the pages. It was an illustrated 1872 copy of The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald. Color pictures hadn’t been invented yet.  Or rather they had, but it wasn’t widely used.  But this copy had illustrations that no human had added to the book.  A dragon child added his own illustrations of the golden haired princess and her friend Curdie, the miner’s son. The pictures had been magicked into the book.  It was one of a kind. Niall had assured her, Byron would give her anything she wanted for this missing piece of his collection.

      She swallowed past a lump in her throat. She needed to trade this children's book for an old diary from a monk who was in The Order of the Dragon Slayers.  But more important, she had to remember that mission when she was alone with the dragon.  She had always been attracted to dragons.  Who wouldn't? The dragon Queens­ were mystery incarnate. There were only five of them in the world now, the last Queen dying way before Bianca was born.  There hadn’t been a new Queen in centuries.  But the male dragon, or studs as they were called, made the Earth their playground. There was never a shortage of humans to do their bidding in exchange for touching greatness. 

      This year, her infatuation became much more ominous for Bianca.  Dragons of all shapes and sizes dropped what they were doing and huddled around her—just to smell her.  It was the weirdest thing she'd ever experienced.  If she decided to sell her body, she could be living large right now.  Bianca had been tempted, especially after the last dragon offered her a Bentley and an expense account at Tiffany's.  But her abeula would've had a stroke.

      Bianca finally went to Yale's department of Draconia to speak with the Great Wyrm, Niall, to see if he knew why she was suddenly catnip to dragons.  Niall was one of the older dragons, the young ones—studs—usually died in adolescence from fighting each other as their hormones went berserk.  Niall was old when the dragons signed the Treaty of 1099 with The Order of Dragon Slayers to broker peace between humans and dragons.

      Niall noticed her twitching in his classroom at Yale and called her up to the podium after the lecture.  He was wise enough to notice the symptoms and had his assistant, Carolyn with him at all times.  They didn’t call him the All Knowing for nothing. Carolyn was human, like Bianca, and spent most of the time with her nose in a book.

      You have an intriguing scent, he told her, after they ruled out she was wearing a new perfume or used a new laundry detergent.  It would attract younger males to you like bees to clover, with the same thought of . . . Niall cleared his throat. Pollinating.

      I don't want to be a sex toy to studs, Bianca said, crossing her legs tight at the ankle and wringing her hands.

      They tried several things.  Niall introduced her to several studs, all with the same results.  The adolescent males had to be physically restrained from grabbing her and running away with her.  The older the dragon, the more controlled the reaction.  Niall had arranged for her to go to the Dragon Embassy for testing because he said she had an unusual aura.  That turned out to be a disaster.  Too many dragons, not enough humans.  Security had escorted her out. Thankfully she still had her underwear on.

      As a last resort, Niall wanted her to meet a representative from The Order of the Dragon Slayers, but he was afraid they would recruit her to use against rogue dragons.  He sent out inquiries, but then decided to send her to Byron's bookstore instead.  Byron was an elder dragon.  Not quite Great

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