Taking cues from Arthurian tales and folklore, Schimmel gives modern day readers heroines whose adventures earn them the right to live their own lives free of male-and royal-expectations.

Margaret, princess of Northumbria, wakes up one morning to find she has been changed into a dragon. She doesn't know why or how, but she heard in a dream that her brother, now in a faraway land, must kiss her to break the spell.

But how can she tell him this? She can only screech and roar. Won't he think he must kill the dragon to save her? Then she remembers a story her cousin told her.

And when Margaret is a princess again, will she be satisfied with the quiet life of the castle, or will she be off on a quest to save her brother from a mysterious illness? And will her dragon side help her or get her in trouble?