He found the tablet in the east trench and put it on his desk. Now there's something in his basement that hasn't eaten in eight thousand years, and it can't take a single thing from him unless he says yes. Tobias Rooke says yes. By morning every woman on campus is looking at him. By Friday one of them is dead. And the thing in his basement is not sorry, is not jealous, is not 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 she has a word for---she just doesn't like other people touching what's hers. The tablet is cracking. She can count what's left. 𝗦𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗳𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗵𝗶𝗺. 𝗦𝗵𝗲'𝘀 𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁-𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗮𝗻𝗱-𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿-𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝘂𝗿𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲.

A political mastermind is ordered to make a fool into a king... and the cost of success is worse than failure.