"The year is 1881. A hundred years ago, the Ottoman Empire bought the allegiance of the dragons--and ever since, the Tarasov family has stood guard on the disputed borderlands. Now, with the autocratic patriarch Vladimir Petrovich at their head, the Tarasovs have become a tattered remnant of their former glory. Elizaveta, the last Tarasov soldier, heir to Vladimir's cruel legacy. Pyotr, the engineer with dreams of flight. And Innokentiy, the traitor who fled to the academies of Saint Petersburg. As war looms in the south and foreign troops crowd Russia's fortress, Vladimir's three children must return to their ancestral home to confront the past that drove them apart. But the bloodthirsty dragons they've fought all their lives aren't what they seem, and neither are the humans around them, friend and foe alike. Splintered by internal strife, hounded by interlopers, and beset by Turkish forces, the Tarasov family must overcome their bad blood--or tear each other apart."--Back cover.

English.