The Great Ruse
  • Reads 531
  • Votes 10
  • Parts 33
  • Time 8h 25m
  • Reads 531
  • Votes 10
  • Parts 33
  • Time 8h 25m
Complete, First published Jan 23, 2022
"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.
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A Dance in the Dark (Book 1)

77 parts Ongoing

[ magic, romance and madness. ] Everyone knew that a romance between a guardian and their protégé always ended in tragedy - yet they risked it. One day, I read that in real-life fairy tales, the princess sometimes needs to befriend the dragon and kill the prince, perhaps not to the most extreme extent, considering the prince's utility. (*Wink*). Twenty years had passed since the demise of the last living descendant bearing the bloodline of a potent family within the mystical realm. Individuals who possessed magic more formidable than anyone could have fathomed and that very magic could be pilfered if they were to meet an untimely end-a rumour ignited like wildfire. Word began to spread about the sole surviving member of the Lysion family, the last vestige of a lineage renowned for their blessings from the gods (or, as some argue, their curses), once no more than bedtime tales for children. Two decades earlier, a game of hide and seek unfolded that culminated in the death of the final Lysion at the hands of Oldo Blake, a formidable figure in the annals of history. Or so the story goes. An obscure girl. A concealed secret. A relentless pursuit. With a motley crew of bewildering Other Siders on her trail and an absolute dearth of knowledge on how to harness her precious magic, Rosélina Johnson's life transformed from that of an inconspicuous university student to that of a fugitive in the mystic realm, utterly unprepared for what lay ahead.