Young rice farmer Yin Wei was forced to become concubine to Prince Guan Terren – a monstrous wielder of poetry magic, and heir to the Azalea throne – to save her family from the famine blighting the land of Tensha.
Now confined to the imperial court, Terren’s cruelty is not the only danger Wei faces. He and his honourable older brother are locked in a deadly succession war, while Terren’s thirty concubines are fighting a war of their own, for the position of future empress.
To survive, Wei must harden her heart, rely on her wit, and become dangerous herself – even if it means learning the one forbidden poem that can kill Terren and save both herself and the nation.
But there’s a problem – for the spell to work against a man she hates, it must be written with love.
Read this exclusive extract now, as chosen by library staff across the UK for the BBC Radio 2 Book Club.
