Clever

Ahnri has been called many things: the boy, the spy, the urchin, the traitor...

Under the direction of a foreign monarch, Ahnri returns to his home city in Fugera, courting treason by spying on the Fugeran queen-Elya, the woman responsible for his father's death-on behalf of his new employer. Armed with the knowledge of her efforts to form some kind of elite killing force, Ahnri is determined to learn how, and why, refusing to sit by and let her hurt more people the way she hurt him.

But in the time he's been gone, Queen Elya's paranoia has deepened to an alarming extent. With the help of a shockingly intelligent cat, Ahnri learns of the queen's private lab beneath the city where she is performing dangerous experiments with Viruses-wielders of Death magic-in an attempt to give Fugera the strongest military in the Unbroken Lands, potentially leaving devastation in its wake.

Except, the queen's son, Prince Remi-the boy Ahnri thought of every day he was gone-is growing more and more invested in the queen's success, and every move of sabotage Ahnri makes means more pain for the prince he loves. Ahnri's mission of reckoning quickly becomes a race for Remi's loyalty as the queen's experiments succeed and Ahnri can't stop her without lying to Remi. Committing treason is one thing; betraying the boy he loves could mean losing him forever.