This spring, an imperial edict has been issued, just like it does every year. Young women from all over the empire are houled together and brought to the imperial palace, to become concubines of the Emperor, as is Wei Yin.
Wei Yin is first and only granddaughter of the late General of the West, and is acquainted with strategies and warfare, her knowledge could mean her survival in the palace... But due to the loss of her brother and her only friends, she locks herself in her room, only coming out for booze, which results in excessive drinking.
Then she's sent to the imperial palace, to become the Emperor's concubine, together with fifty other girls... and she stirs up quite the commotion... being drunk and all. The Emperor takes a liking to her odd behaviour, but she hates him with her entire being, for an event that had occured a few years ago, when the Jade General still protected the Empire, the strongest man alive next to the Emperor.
Yin and the Emperor bicker and fight, Yin quite possibly fights everyone in the palace, but at what cost? Yin is slowly falling apart, the loss and betrayal weigh heavy on her. That's when war breaks out and the empire is in need of the Jade General once again... and it doesn't seem like he's coming, but instead...
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The story is set in a made up world, but I'll be using words from Chinese/Japanese/Korean etc.
WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE IS INVITED STRAIGHT INTO THE HEART OF YOUR HOUSE?
Seven years ago, Rhysa Jiang ran. She buried her past, chose to start over from a clean slate. She became a near legend, the only female Iron Wolf, deciding to become something new. They've hunted her down ever since, and until now she'd managed to evade their search.
But now they've been invited to Sai. The Scarlet Palace. Her only home, her safe haven. And Rhysa has a suspicious feeling she's not going to be able to escape the Falcons' grasp this time. After all, she's a deserter, and those pay in blood around here.
Dominic Lang had learnt long ago that Rhysa's past was something that shouldn't be dug up. Sure, he had his suspicions, but after being partners for six years, you learnt to trust someone. And if there was one thing he knew about Rhys, it was that the girl was fearless. So her sudden terror makes no sense. Her sudden caution, her sudden reluctance to even show her face in public is completely baffling.
And he'll get to the bottom of this. Because Rhysa Jiang had been hiding the entirety of herself from him for too long, because there was nothing he loved more than a good mystery and challenge, and Rhys might just be the biggest one of all.
It was just what friends do.
(book #1 of 4 in the court of bones series, the third instalment in the silk and steel chronicles
can be read as a stand-alone)