The king's magnificent palace was built in a matter of weeks. No one saw the builders, no villagers are allowed beyond the gilded gate, and only one servant has ever left. The haunted look in her eyes as she was recaptured by the palace guards is something Josie, daughter of the village doctor, has never forgotten.
For Josie, the palace is a mystery that grows more intriguing after she meets the captain of the guards, a man known only as Hammer, as mysterious and captivating as the palace itself. Whispers of magic fuel Josie's desire to uncover the truth, but an ordinary girl like her can only dream of ever being invited inside.
When the king decides to take a wife from among the eligible daughters of the noble families, the palace gates are finally thrown open and the kingdom's elite pour in. In a court where old rivalries and new jealousies collide, the king's favorite is poisoned and the doctor is summoned. As her father's assistant, Josie finally sees inside the lavish walls, but she soon learns the palace won't surrender its secrets easily, for not a single resident, from the lowest servant to the king himself, has a memory from before the palace existed.
In the search for the truth, Josie is drawn deeper into danger, and the answers she seeks might shake the very foundations of the kingdom.
The Art of Courts and Lies (Book 1 in The Gifted Trilogy)
52 parts Complete
52 parts
Complete
Ice flooded my veins as the realization of who he was hit me. It must have been evident on my face because the man in front of me let out a dark laugh.
"Oh dear, you didn't realize you were talking to a royal, did you darling?" he crooned.
Not just any royal. Kesserian Cinis. The recently coronated king and ruler over the Ember Court. I forgot how to breathe, my mind whirring as it tried to figure out how I could have been so stupid as to let this happen.
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Wren Heatherfield is on the run. Having turned 18, she is now in danger of becoming selected for the Garner, a deadly game in which the six kings who rule over her continent take eighteen non-magical girls and make them fight for their lives. But as she tries to avoid the game by running away with her best friend and her sister, she consequently finds herself doomed to be a competitor in the 246th Garner.
But the Garner isn't the only thing capable of killing her. In a castle surrounded by kings with dark powers and girls fighting for their lives, she may find that the politics of royalty can be just as deadly as their games.
No one can be trusted in a palace full of monsters and, if Wren has any hopes of survival, she may have to become one herself.