Lian snuck out of the imperial palace and exposed the village healer to be a fraud and a devil-worshipper. Cursed by the spurned fire god, Huogwai, and disgraced and cast out by the royal family, Lian set out with her manservant Emiru to the kingdom of fire to rid her of the curse of uncontrollable flames for a chance to regain her claim to the throne. But being a fire disciple meant she was a practitioner of the forbidden arts. For those that hunt her kind, the game had just started.

Li Xiang is the Priestess of the Moon, she can see read the stars and fortune as well as misfortune to her people. However, the life of a Priestess consists of nothing but loneliness: she can neither leave the palace nor meet with anyone but the Emperor and his advisors. One day a mysterious servant boy named Rui sneaks into her room, daring her to go outside if he wins against her in a game. Upon meeting him, she also befriends a female warrior and a scholar, and realizes life is much more than the palace. When the day comes she can either choose to go down the road her heart truly desires but bring ruin to the kingdom, or ignore the one chance she will ever have to leave this life? *** "My fate has been decided for me." "There's no such thing as that," he said. "We all make our own fate." "But the stars tell me--" I stopped talking when he holds my face in his hands, warm hands cupping my cheeks, brown eyes looking into my eyes. "Then stop looking at the stars. Look at me." A love story about fate, finding one's identity, stepping out of your comfort zone, and, most of all, choosing between your happiness or the happiness of others... [[Word Count: 80,000-90,000]] Wattys Fantasy Winner 2021