The court’s youngest literati has a very big secret.
Laurel, known to the imperial court as Li Yuegui, is no nobleman. He’s an orphan with no prospects and no future, conscripted to the bitter wastes of the northern border of Jiangnan to defend against the Jurchen Jin. Until a chance meeting with a princess catapults him into life in the bustling Capitol of Lin’an.
His age, his background, everything about Laurel is a lie. But that’s not the only secret that Laurel keeps.
Laurel is also a yaojing, known in the Occident as the fey. His powers, like his princess mother’s, must be kept a secret. They also buy him admittance into her Highness Li Jiayi’s court: the Phoenix Court, which operates by night in the shadows, made up of yao who do her Highness’ bidding to keep the realm safe from magical threats.
At 17, Laurel enters the service of His Majesty, the emperor Li Tian, and his daughter, Li Jiayi. With the heavy weight of these conflicting loyalties on his shoulders, Laurel must not break.
And all the while, he must learn to work together with an infuriating and handsome fox spirit, one who teases too much and won’t let Laurel save face or his dignity, and Ghosts plague the western quarter of the city that has become Laurel’s home…
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