of mist and power

SYPNOSIS

Myrina Mai, Countess of Li Han, is in trouble. With her close friend and confidante Princess Irina now married in another country, all she wishes is to retire back to her own land and regain control of her own estate. However, her power-hungry uncles are doing all they could to block her return. With no one else to turn to, she requests superior and rival, Crown Prince Ryan Gu, for assistance.

And who was Ryan to refuse? For the past decade of his life, he'd wondered what happened to the girl Myrina used to be. The girl she was before her father died and Myrina was forcefully kept in the Scarlet Palace, playing the games she never wanted to. She was free to go now, and he was not one to refuse her, even if he'd always secretly hoped she'd stay.

Throw that in with an assassin after his life, his recent discovery that Myrina was secretly wiccai, and a traitor running amongst their midst-the two have plenty in their hands. And as the schemes stack up and the scent of treachery grows, Myrina wonders if leaving would be easy as she thought it was before.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

AUTHOR'S NOTE

writing this was kinda fun bc i don't think most people who've read the prequels are particularlyyy fond of either of these characters??? and myrina is REALLY different from the female leads i'm used to writing. she's way more passive, way more peaceful, and she doesn't revel in politics or war like irina or justine, and she's not a spy like cass and ciri and io and danna. she's not from a powerful background like asteria. some of the other main characters are downright hostile towards her, or all find some fault with her in private anyways. myrina just wants to leave. and in of iron and crowns it's shown why she'd been forced to stay, and now that irina's gone, she's technically free to do so.

but of course, bc this is my novel, things aren't exactly going to go as she plans.

but anywAYSSSS!!!! let us return to sai after such a long time away in of copper and blades.

this book takes place around a year after the events of of copper and blades,

this novel is the fourth and last of the court of bones series, which consists of four books. court of bones is the third series in the silk and steel chronicles, and is a spin-off of the sable sisters and lady kuroki's school for girls. it can be read separately.

PLEASE NOTE

this world is based closely off our real one, and this includes the history and politics of many countries. however, it is not meant to be 100% accurate and i have added and omitted as i wished to, with no harmful intent behind so. neither do i personally agree with all the "counterparts" of more modern political issues that the characters of this book may believe in.

historical accuracy was not my goal in writing this series, and thus there may be quite some inconsistencies in comparison to actual history. for example, the titles of saian (chinese) characters have been altered to be more understandable to a western audience, as the original chinese ones were confusing enough to make even a native chinese person (me) gain a massive headache.

while melique, the "enemy" of this story, is based off a mixture of south american countries, meiji-era japan and french revolution and napoleonic france, along with early ussr, it does not represent my opinion towards any of the countries.

there is strong language and hints at explicit content within the story, though none is clearly shown. read at your own risk!