Veins Of Iron

"Watch what people do, not what they say. Anyone can say anything. But what they avoid... that you can't fake"

For 7 years, Li Meiyu worked in near isolation. Then came the summons to the imperial Tiān Què Palace, a failed mechanical design, and a conspiracy buried in its foundation.

Forced to investigate alongside Feng XuRen, a palace guard whose kindness unravel her carefully built walls, Meiyu soon finds herself traveling through a crumbling kingdom where every village reveals new horrors and every night in close quarters makes the lines between pretense and reality blur.

What begins as a search for an empire's downfall conspiracy becomes something far more dangerous: two lonely people learning that brilliance isn't the same as being whole, that competence isn't the same as being loved, and that the most foolish desire of all might be the one worth risking everything for.

A historical fantasy of mystery, slow-burn romance, set in ancient china inspired backdrop and the journey toward becoming someone who believes they deserve all that they desire.

Perfect for fans of: The Apothecary diaries • The Poppy War (political intrigue) • Game of thrones • The last Kingdom • The King To Sleep in a Sea of Stars (character-driven mystery) • The last kindgom • Slow burn historical C-dramas • Competent heroines and patient heroes

✨ Author's note
Why I am Writing This:
This story is for everyone who learned to make themselves smaller, quieter, less. Meiyu's journey is about unlearning that lie-and finding someone who never needed her to shrink in the first place.

Anonymous author | Slow burn enthusiast | Here for the yearning