Dassia Temperton
Knight. Fraud. Chocolatier. Strict personal policy against unnecessary exertion.
For twenty years, the chandelier has been dark.
M. J. Gillbright’s
Chivalry Chocolate
A cozy fantasy of dragons & desserts
Chapter One · If the Armor Fits, Wear It
does not exist.
She has a secret — well, not a secret so much as an enthusiastic reinterpretation of facts. Approximately forty-five pounds of metal, cinched to within an inch of her ability to breathe. Counterfeit stubble. Borrowed boldness. A forged birth certificate nobody thought to hold up to a candle.
One promotion quest stands between her and freedom: slay the Glimmerglass Beast, collect three hundred gold crowns, and vanish into the only dream she has ever allowed herself — a little chocolate shop.
Chapter Three · Smitten or Dragon-Bitten
The beast she was sent to slay
had opinions about her tempering.
“It’s as if you’ve invited chocolate to a waltz and then stepped on its toes the entire night. Stomped on them, really. With boots. Muddy ones.”
— Etchling, the Glimmerglass Beast, declining to be slain
No battle. No beheading. Instead: a dramatic, iridescent dragon with strong feelings about ganache-to-shell ratios and the town’s hat situation. The quest quietly becomes a business plan.
Cozyhood Commons · population: charmed
A shop that smells like heaven dipped in cocoa butter.
Her armor sleeps under the floorboards, clanking when she steps too heavily. The town has accepted her suspiciously vague backstory — and her “unusually large, scaly dog” who requests specific tea blends and critiques footwear.
Dassia calculated a 78.3% chance of immediate failure. She did the math. Twice. The numbers did not improve. She opened anyway.
Overheard in Cozyhood Commons
“Gods and ganache.”
— Sir Dassian “the Bold,” allegedly a man, allegedly bold
“Darling, I bring controlled, artistically motivated combustion. There’s a difference, and I cannot stress that enough.”
— Etchling, on fire safety
“Oh! Oh my stars and stanzas!”
— Quinn Fablewick, mage bookseller, weaponizing an entire reading list
Dramatis Personae
Etchling
The Glimmerglass Beast. Devastatingly decorative. Currently a “dog.”
Quinn Fablewick
Mage. Bookseller. Contemplates the transcendent beauty of well-organized shelves.
Garrett
A smile that should come with a warning label: may cause poor decision-making in otherwise sensible knights.
The first bite is free
Learning to be loved
without the armor.
A knight who lied her way into an army and truthed her way into a chocolate shop. A dragon who believes food should be transcendence. A small town worth defending with a little magic.
From the author’s dedication: “To the shops that offer free chocolate samples — your service is sacred.”