The Great Ruse

"What if we switched?"

It's a classic sort of tale. The fiery heroine, Lady Valdis Adalwin, would go to the ends of the earth to avenge her mother after her brutal death in the Fiddleweld Fire five years ago. She still remembers the face of the man who started it all, clear as day, and she will not rest until he is dead by her hand. If finding him means she must disguise as a man and go off to war against the evil magic-wielding realm that set the city aflame, then so be it.

Except this story isn't about Val-this is about me, Emerson, the man whose identity Val stole.

The ruse was supposed to be a simple one. Switch Roshadian Citizen Papers with my best friend, go to the Royal Ball in her place, and then disappear for a year while Val takes her hero complex to the Border with my army summons. Easy enough, right? Yeah, who were we kidding. So now on top of hiding my ability to use magic, an offense punishable by death, I'll also be thieving the identity of an upper - an offense also punishable by death. Layers of deceit collide in this tale of how I tried to save my life while also learning how to live.

Spoiler alert: things don't go according to plan.