Jillian Chantal

One of my favorite people, Michelle Miles, is my guest today and she’s bringing us one of her new releases. Check it out.

The Color of Dragons
By Michelle Miles

Hello, lovely readers! I want to thank fellow EC Blush author Jillian for letting me blog at her place today to talk about my latest, ONLY FOR A KNIGHT.

I loved writing this book. It was a lot of fun. I mean, who wouldn’t have fun writing about dragons and elves and faeries? But today I want to focus on the all-powerful, awe-inspiring dragon. I have four dragons in my book—Nero, Ambrielle, Aura and Luna. The all have a specific color. Each one chooses a rider as their “person” (or Fae in this case). Except for Nero but I’ll get to that in a second. They can also mind-speak.

Before I get too far, here’s a little background on the dragons in the book. They were put into shadow by Queen Maeve thousands of years ago to protect them from hunters. These dragons can cross through the veil separating the Otherworld and the human realm and Maeve feared they would be hunted to extinction. They’ve been asleep for a very long time. Nero was the first dragon awakened, used by the Unseelie to terrorize our good guys. In order to combat those bad guys, Queen Maeve decides she must awaken the dragons and bring them back from the shadow. She takes Derron and Elyne (the hero/heroine) along with her because she needs their help.

I wrote the book and chose colors for the dragons but I didn’t really have any reason for that. I just picked the colors I liked. But then I got to thinking if there was any symbolism for each one and started doing some digging. Here’s what I discovered.

Nero, the black dragon
Black is associated with darkness, the unknown, the invisible. In Western culture, black dragons represent incarnated evil. They are “invisible” at night because of their color. They can also hide well in caves, lurk in shadows and remain unseen until ready to strike. It’s funny I should pick black for this one because he’s on the Unseelie or the “dark” side of the war with the Fae/Seelie/our heroes. But Nero isn’t ALL that bad. Not really. He’s just being used by the bad guys to inspire fear. The villain of the story, Lord Kieran, wants all the power and control over the Otherworld and the human realm and he’ll use whatever means he has to get it—including Nero. (Plus, Nero is my homage to Star Trek. There I go again showing off my nerdom.)

Ambrielle, the emerald dragon
Green is associated with the earth and its vegetation. The color green for dragons can symbolize spring, rebirth and life. It can also symbolize health, peace and eternity. Because green is associated with nature, there is a symbolic link between the green dragon and the mother goddess. I didn’t really have a specific reason why I chose this color for her. But in hindsight, she is kind of the ringleader of the “good” dragons. She’s the one in charge, the one that talks to Queen Maeve when she goes to awaken them and strikes a deal with the queen.

Aura, the azure dragon
Light blue dragons represent the sky. Dark blue dragons represent still, dark waters. As we all know, blue is a calming color. You’d want to paint your bedroom blue because it’s a restful color. In some cultures, blue protected against the “evil eye”. In Asian countries, blue eyes were a sign of magical powers. I admit it. Aura is my favorite. She’s also Elyne’s dragon. Plus blue is my favorite color. *grin*

Luna, the silver dragon
I picked silver for Luna because, well, it reminded me of moonlight. And her name is…Luna. This color symbolizes, shockingly enough, the moon. It is a sign of clairvoyance and intelligence. Silver dragons would have powerful healing abilities. Luna picked Derron as her rider. She’s smaller than the others. I don’t know why but maybe I thought she was younger. Not a baby but not quite as old as Ambrielle and Nero. They’re the ancient ones.

So there you have it—a discussion on dragons and their colors. There are a whole lot of other colors for dragons, of course. And they’re associated with lots of mythology in the Western world as well as in the East. I’m sure we’re all familiar with the Chinese dragons.

Here’s the official blurb for the book:

Official Blurb:

After saving her love, Princess Elyne returns to the Otherworld by order of her mother. But it’s not the homecoming she expects. Furious Elyne has meddled with humans the queen imprisons her and strips away her magic. The only way Elyne can get it back is to perform one selfless act.

When Queen Maeve sends Derron to find the Guardian of the Sword of Light, he can’t leave without releasing Elyne. After all, she altered time to save his life. But freeing the princess comes with a steep price—he must take her with him on this dangerous quest. And the two must deal with feelings of past hurt and the love growing between them.

Their search becomes more than a pursuit for the missing Guardian as Lord Kieran rises to dominate the Unseelie court. He will stop at nothing to gain control of both the Otherworld and the human realm. Even with the help of Elves, dragons and their human friends, the odds are stacked against Derron and Elyne.

Where to purchase:
Ellora’s Cave: http://www.jasminejade.com/p-10477-only-for-a-knight.aspx
Amazon
Barnes & Noble

Where to find me online:
Website and blog home: http://www.michellemiles.net
Email: michelle@michellemiles.net
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/MichelleMiles
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MichelleMilesRomanceAuthor
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/MichelleMiles
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/mlmiles21