For Ettan and his younger sibling Ayana, life in the Kingdom of Gorum is complicated. They manage the king’s hennery, their responsibility since their parents’ deaths. Ettan has been given the opportunity to train for knighthood, but Drogue, the son of the kingdom’s most powerful lord, and a few corrupt knights seem intent on ruining his chances. Ayana is unsure of whether she is a girl or a boy, a fact that childhood friend Liela, who wants to turn Ayana into a proper lady like herself, can’t understand. Liela, who has always embraced the idea of being a lady, starts to bristle at the constraints it imposes. And Ayana keeps risking their position at the hennery, not to mention arrest, by stealing to feed the hungry.

When Ettan is goaded into striking Drogue, his chances for knighthood appear to be over. And a foreboding stranger seems to have taken an interest in Ayana’s “charity work.” After Ettan, Ayana, and Liela form an unlikely friendship with Kemo, a Black boy struggling for acceptance, their investigation into who the stranger is leads to the discovery of a plot by Drogue’s father, in league with the church, to overthrow the king. As the friends decide what to do, Ettan sees a chance for redemption; Ayana finds greater gender certainty; Liela is forced to choose between taking action and adhering to societal expectations; and Kemo must overcome his fear of the white nationalists behind the planned uprising.

In the second book, subtitled RESTORATION, they will join forces with Drogue to try to prevent the insurrection from succeeding while coming to terms with their own individual identities. In the end, the revelation of a long-held family secret will result in the coronation of the kingdom’s first nonbinary ruler.

UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPT, AVAILABLE FOR REPRESENTATION.