Pirates of Aletharia

Emilia Drakon was once the gentlest of the dragon sorcerers; betrayed and stripped of her people, she escapes execution only to be tricked into serving as ship's surgeon aboard the pirate vessel Wicked Fate. Its captain, Maria Welles, is as feared and calculating as the stories claim, and has her own reasons for wanting Emilia aboard.

What begins as mutual hostility slow-burns into a reluctant romance, even as Emilia hunts for a way back to her dragons and Maria pursues a navy admiral from her own past. Reviewers describe the book's tone as gritty and lived-in, with a crew bound by a real code of honor alongside its violence, and a central relationship that stays tense and unresolved for most of the book.

Pirates of Aletharia is the first novel in Britney Jackson's Lesbians, Pirates, & Dragons series, and won the 2022 Goldie Award for Fantasy/Science Fiction and a 2023 eLit Award gold medal. It was followed by Goddess of the Sea in 2024.