Tropes, Themes, and Fun Misc Info: 1920s aesthetic, found family, mating bond (one-sided), shifter magic, fae magic, dancing on the line between human and other, magic is returning
Protagonist One: Twenty-year-old Corinth Boneffant, who after the death of his father is named Emperor of Gustana. Has an old royal gift of shifter beast magic. He is (unbeknowst to her) mated to Winifred.
Protagonist Two: Eighteen-year-old Winifred fern-Emyr, illegitimate granddaughter of the Marchioness of Valinar. She is the Basilda Sidhe, a more elven than human sorceress with the power to attack and change nature with the price of physical injury to herself.
Protagonist Three: Ten-year-old Anthony fern-Sybil, who has a deep familial bond closer to mother and son than anything else with his Aunt Winifred. He reluctantly becomes Crown Prince Anthony Boneffant and begins to train with his half-brother Corinth on how to control his own shifter-beast magic and temperament.
A week before the spring equinox, the eldest illegitimate son of the emperor is found dead in his apartment. Known for his vices, it's seen as an accidental tragedy.
That is, until the following week when the emperor, the empress, and only legitimate daughter are assassinated while driving home from the temple. On the other side of the country, the crown prince, Corinth, is attacked in his university dorm room and survives solely thanks to his rare beast-shifter magic. His roommates, however, are not as lucky.
As Corinth, now Emperor of Grustana, is sent into hiding, one by one the former emperor's illegitimate children—who could under duress be considered heirs due to being publically claimed—begin dying. Within three weeks, despite the best efforts of Corinth and the royal guard, only he remains of the once embarrassingly sprawling royal heirs. Should Corinth pass or not have a son, the royal families of the neighboring countries Kristalis and Undhall stand to inherit the throne—and both countries have been on the brink of war for years. The potential for a mass scale war buzzes under the surface like a disturbed bee hive.
Panicked and trying to prevent a succession crisis, Corinth searches through letters and missives from his father's many mistresses, seeing if any heirs remain. A hidden safe box reveals a cache of letters from eleven years prior from the elderly Duchess of Valinar, reproaching the emperor for impregnating her granddaughter. The formal letter made it clear that acknowledgement of this child will shake an ancient alliance between Grustana and Valinar—which is now a part of the kingdom but was once the home of the ancient and powerful fae and is held together by magically-binding treaties. The fae have faded into legend in the sprawling wilderness forests and the ducal family, who had intermarried with powerful fae priestesses for time immemorial, have been for centuries decidedly and boringly human. The marche is now a remote part of the empire but a wealthy provider of natural resources. The former emperor deferred in publically acknowledging his now ten-year old son Anthony to avoid upsetting the legal and economic connections, but regularly sent money for his upkeep and kept abrest of his son's life.
Corinth refuses to let his staff go alone to retrieve his half-brother and a rushed trip by car begins in hopes whoever is assassinating the royal heirs has not already reached the boy.
Unbeknowst to all but the immediate ducal family, the blood of the fae has bred true once again. Winifred fern-Emyr, illegitimate grandduaghter of the duchess, is Basilda Sidhe, a sorceress priestess of nature and blood—and the dearly beloved aunt of Anthony. Her elven powers make her seem more fae than human, unsettling most that meet her. However, despite only being eight years older than him, Winifred has taken a maternal role for him due to them both being "stains" on the family line.
When assassins come for Anthony, Winifred swiftly and violently takes care of them. And when Corinth comes for his brother, Winifred reveals her true nature when she attacks him and his staff. The situation is diffused before it goes any further, but this meeting of magic sparks mating magic within Corinth...but not in Winifred, who is unaware of this development and is on the edge of protective violence on behalf of her nephew.
It is agreed (a bit too readily by Corinth) that Anthony will take his place as crown prince as a temporary measure and Winifred will accompany them, playing the role of governess and seneschal of the duchess in the capital.
However, dangers on the road, in the capital, and abroad loom over the trio as they work to restore stability in the hopes of preventing a world war.
Whether that is possible, however, remains to be seen.
