Dragonshadow

Dragonshadow is the second book in the series that began with Heartstone, a fantasy that borrows the social manners of Jane Austen's novels and gives them a magical, martial twist. Its central pair, Aliza and Alastair, are sharp-tongued fighters whose rivalry is as much a contest of words as of swords, and both are fierce enough to take on a world-threatening war.

The fighting at North Fields has supposedly ended, and Aliza, now a Daired, would like to believe it. Then reports arrive of an unseen creature tearing through Castle Selwyn, a remote holding on the kingdom's northern edge. Lord Selwyn, a mysterious figure, calls the couple home from their honeymoon, and they must cross the Old Wilds of Arle, a dangerous region haunted by Tekari, with their dragon Akarra.

The journey is not undisturbed. An ancient evil follows the dragonriders, a sign of a menace far greater than the Worm they have already faced. Aliza soon understands that the conflict ahead is only just starting.