A spy falling for someone she should never trust. Ancient dragons with very little patience. And a heroine discovering that the life she was brought up to accept isn’t the only one available to her.
In this My Romance Reads interview, Teddy chats with fantasy romance author Meghan Le Fay about her Dragonbound Chronicles series and its second book, Scales of Flame, out on 17 November 2026.
We talk about balancing romance with high fantasy, why betrayal makes love complicated, and the unexpected historical anecdote that helped inspire the story. If you like your romance with magic, intrigue and dragons who have opinions, this one could be for you.
You can watch the full conversation on YouTube. The Q&A below has been condensed and edited for clarity from our conversation.
For readers meeting you for the first time, what can they expect from your books?
My books are a pretty good split of fantasy and romance. You can expect plenty of world-building, lots of magic and, in this series, plenty of dragons.
The first book, Wings of Life, starts as a story of self-discovery. The heroine comes from a very closed-off society and is sent to a rival kingdom as a spy. When she arrives, she finds a culture that is much more open and welcoming, especially in its treatment of women.
She starts falling in love with this land and its people while she’s supposed to be uncovering their secrets and sending information home. Then she meets the weaponmaster, which throws another wrench into everything.
How much fantasy is there alongside the romance?
It’s closer to high fantasy. There’s a lot of magic, and a limited number of dragons who act almost as the deities of the world. Magic is largely restricted to the dragonbound, which is where the series gets its name.
In Wings of Life, we explore the heroine’s introduction to that world of magic. In Scales of Flame, it expands: we learn more about the magic, more about the world and more about the dragons, who are all very snarky and fun.
What first inspired the story?
I started writing romantic fantasy back in college, before the term romantasy was around. I loved reading fantasy, but what I loved writing was romance. Eventually, I realised I should merge those two worlds.
The inspiration for this particular story came from a very strange place. I saw a social media post about a medieval chronicler complaining that English men were losing their wives to the Danes because the Danes bathed regularly and practised good hygiene.
That sparked the idea of a woman from a closed-off culture falling in love with someone from a much more open one. What would it be like to arrive somewhere that was the opposite of everything she knew, and that allowed her to be more of her true self?
Your heroine is a spy. How did you balance betrayal with a believable romance?
Betrayal is a big theme in the book. She had to be someone who was not only being betrayed, but doing the betraying too.
That was a tricky balance. There’s a point where a betrayal can become so big that you can’t see how the characters could find forgiveness or have a romantic future. I had to work out what was enough to matter, and enough for them to have to work through, without taking it too far.
Was the enemies-to-lovers element there from the beginning?
Yes, that was part of the original concept. But it’s not enemies to lovers because the two individuals have something against each other. It’s because they come from opposing cultures. I think those are two different kinds of enemies to lovers.
At home, the heroine has a very strict role, particularly as a woman from a noble family. She’s expected to make the right marriage for her family. In the new kingdom, people ask what she wants to do with herself and how she plans to contribute to her community. Those questions are completely unfamiliar to her.
It gives her the chance to discover who she wants to be. I wouldn’t call it coming of age, because these characters are very much adults, but it is a journey of growth.
What makes your dragons different?
I love all types of dragons, from tiny ones that act like cats to huge, sweeping creatures. For my books, I wanted them to be highly intelligent, sentient beings, but I also wanted a lot of mystery around them.
They have an almost deity-like status. We keep exploring what they really are, how they function and what’s happening with them throughout the series.
They’re also functionally immortal and many thousands of years old. Anyone who has lived that long is going to have some snark, some attitude and perhaps not much patience! Creating those characters was so much fun. They communicate through a mental link or binding with their dragonbound.
How spicy is the series, and which readers might enjoy it?
I’ve seen readers put Wings of Life around two to three out of five for spice. Scales of Flame heats things up: I’d put it more in the three-to-four range. The series gets spicier, the magic gets bigger and everything builds.
The comparisons I hear most often are Shield of Sparrows and The Bridge Kingdom. There are similar elements, with a substantial fantasy side blended with the romance.
Without spoiling anything, what are you most excited for readers to discover in Scales of Flame?
We learn a little about the Dream Realm in Wings of Life, but we explore much more of it in Scales of Flame. Things don’t work quite how you expect them to there, and the world doesn’t look like the mortal realm.
We also meet another dragonbound and their dragon. Their relationship is incredibly different from the central dragon-and-dragonbound relationship in the first book. I love that contrast, and I’m so excited for readers to meet this other dragon. There’s another romantic arc to follow too.
Will the third book be the end of the story?
That’s the end of this trilogy. That doesn’t mean that it’s the end for the world.
Where can readers keep up with you?
Instagram and my website are the best places. I have a newsletter with a monthly update on what’s going on and what I’m doing. A lot of the time, newsletter subscribers get sneak peeks first.
- Instagram: @meghanlefay
- Website: meghanlefay.com
