Book excerpt: A Kitsune dreaming of a wider world. A prince seeking purpose. A love that defies the odds. Trapped in a dull and unfilling role as palace maid, Rin dreams of rising higher in the immortal court. Determined to change her lot in life, she plans to use her illusion power to spy on her ruler’s rival and prove her worth. But when her mission fails, she’s turned human as punishment. Now she has until the next full moon to seduce a human prince, break his engagement, and upend his treaty with a rival kingdom without her Kitsune magic or voice, otherwise she’ll become a common fox. Hikaru is the dutiful oldest son and heir. Whatever he’s asked, he does without complaint. Outwardly, at least. Inwardly, he pines to be a poet, scholar, or anything but a prince. Then he finds a mysterious woman wandering alone beside spirit invested woods, and while he knows he shouldn’t, he brings her home. She cannot speak, but there’s something bewitching about her, drawing him in becoming a dangerous temptation he cannot afford, because peace depends on his marriage to another… Rin thought it would be simple. Kitsune are experts at deceiving mortals, after all. But the foreign human heart beating in chest threatens to betray her. To save her life, she has to destroy his, and the more time they spend together, the harder it is to deny her growing feelings. Now Rin is caught between two impossible choices: either let fate tear them apart or risk her magic and life for love.