The Phantom's Gambit - Chapter 70: Deception

Book I: Lost ThingsTristan Abrascal is a thief, one of many making their living under the perpetual twilight of the greatest city in all of Vesper. Quick wit and a contract with a capricious goddess have always kept him one step ahead, until one night he crosses a line by accident that burns all the bridges he had left. But not all is lost, as his mentor offers a way out of peril that turns out to be more than a simple escape.It is also an opportunity to get even with the infanzones, the nobles he’s lived under all his life, and it so happens that Tristan has a full ledger’s worth of scores to settle with them.Lady Angharad Tredegar has fled halfway across the world, leaving behind a ruin of a life: her family butchered by a ruthless enemy, their estate torched and their nobility revoked. Yet no matter how far she flees the blades of assassins follow, and she finds herself growing desperate for any protection. She has one relative left to call on, her estranged uncle, but she finds that the safety he offers comes at a cost.Angharad has sworn revenge, however, and her honour will allow for no compromise. She will do what she must to survive so that one day bloody vengeance can be visited upon her enemies.The paths of the two take them to the doorstep of the Watch, but for desperate souls like them enrolment is a lost cause. They will have to do it the hard way instead, by surviving the trials on the isle known as the Dominion of Lost Things.Where every year many go, and few return.Book II: Good TreasonsThe trials of the Dominion are over.The four survivors have become students of Scholomance, enrolling together as a cabal, yet even on those infamous grounds they soon learn none are beyond the reach of their pasts.Angharad Tredegar is returned to a semblance of the world she left behind, but finds her honor sorely tested by bargains offered - every bit as tempting as in the stories and even deadlier.Tristan Abrascal needs answers. Mysterious enemies keep trying to abduct him, his classroom does not exist and he’s now had several conversations with dead people. Worst of all, his carrots keep dying.Maryam Khaimov is going mad, which would worry her less if it were happening on schedule. More frightening yet is the possibility that she is not, and there truly is someone else going around wearing her face.Song Ren must forge the others into a functional unit, all the while fending off enemies on all sides: rival cabals, vengeful countrymen and the deluge of implacable foes her companions simply cannot seem to stop attracting.Failure is not an option, for Song must bring back honor to her family’s name whatever the cost: it is the only way to keep their disgrace from literally eating them all alive.And as the four chase shadows in Scholomance, in the distance looms the greater test awaiting them in the Asphodel Rectorate. Asphodel is a faded power, the rotten carcass of what it once was, but under that rot looms darker things - of which monsters might just be the least dangerous.Besides, is treason really such an evil when you have the best of reasons for it?

After the sudden death of her boyfriend, Leslie Song has been single-handedly raising her precious little daughter Calliope. It’s a difficult life, but it’s a happy one. A freak accident puts an end to that.As Leslie lies dying on the road, watching Calliope breathe her last, she curses her helplessness. Calliope’s crochet fox seems to hear her. It opens its mouth and asks, “Do you want to see your daughter again? If so, follow me. Her soul has already left for another world.”Leslie agrees. That’s the last thing she remembers before losing consciousness. When she opens her eyes again, she finds herself—or rather, her soul—standing beside her unconscious body on a hospital bed.“How is this supposed to help me find Calliope!” she exclaims.“This is not your body. Your body is dead. This is my original host, Charlene Li,” explains the toy fox. “You can possess her body to find Calliope, but if you do, you must finish her uncompleted mission for her.”“And what mission is that?”“To marry the second most eligible CEO in the city.”‘This,’ Leslie concludes, ‘is a scam.’ But she has no other choice.**********Meanwhile, the second most eligible bachelor in the city, Calix Xu, is patting himself on the back for thwarting his grandmother’s attempts to marry him off. After exhausting all of his tricks and excuses, he has resorted to marrying the comatose daughter of the Li family.Calix smiles, pleased with himself, “Aren't I smart? Grandmother can do nothing now.”But… why is he seeing his newly-wedded wife hovering beside her own body?Before he can react, his wife—the moving one—floats towards him.“Husband! Help me find my child!”“Your child?” Calix asks weakly before doing the only reasonable thing he can do in such a situation.He faints.

Ten years ago, Magnolia was blamed for her sister’s death and cast out of her pack. Her Alpha father’s final words “Why did she die, but not you?” drove her into exile. She lived among humans, hiding her identity, her wolf, and her pain.Now, at twenty-eight, Magnolia learns her mate is none other than Rhett Callahan , the powerful Alpha of the strongest pack and heir to a billion-dollar empire. But instead of love, he offers her a contract: marry him for one year so he can fulfill the requirements of his inheritance.Magnolia accepts to save her parents’ home but finds herself in a loveless arrangement, mocked by the pack and haunted by the past. Then Camille returns with another woman, the one he truly loves… and it’s Magnolia ’s sister, long thought dead.As secrets explode and bonds unravel, Magnolia must decide if she can forgive the mate who rejected her or burn the past down with him in it.

[Shelter System successfully bound to host!]

[Option One: City of Light, save the survivors in the apocalypse and become a glorious and benevolent savior.]

[Option Two: City of Darkness, humans who enter the City of Darkness can only become your slaves. And you, will be the devil ruling over the apocalypse.]

Sorry, I am no saint, I choose City of Darkness! From today onwards, I will be a villain!

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