Private Tutor to the Duke’s Daughter

After failing the final exam for his dream job at the royal court, promising young sorcerer Allen wants nothing more than to retreat to a simple life in the countryside. Unfortunately for him, he can’t even afford the train fare! His only solution is to get a job, but his one lead is anything but modest—Duke Howard, one of the kingdom’s most powerful nobles, needs a private tutor for his daughter Tina. Despite her academic brilliance, Tina is incapable of casting even a single spell. To make matters worse, entrance exams for the prestigious Royal Academy are fast approaching, and magical aptitude is mandatory! Can Allen use his unique brand of spellcasting to help Tina overcome her magical impairment, a mystery that not even the kingdom’s finest sorcerers have been able to solve? And does her father, the duke, even want him to?

With Tina and Ellie safely enrolled in the Royal Academy, Allen’s troubles seem to be behind him. But his tutoring duties are far from over, and his return to the royal capital brings him face-to-face with old friends and enemies alike. Allen’s former classmate and self-proclaimed mistress Lydia Leinster, esteemed as “the Lady of the Sword,” is far from happy that Allen won’t be joining her in the prestigious ranks of the court sorcerers; Lydia’s younger sister Lynne is upset that he has been tutoring her newfound rival Tina; and their mother, the powerful Duchess Leinster, hopes to recruit him into a mysterious new scheme. Allen’s own sister isn’t thrilled to find him keeping secrets from her either. Meanwhile, the jealous Prince Gerard is still nursing a grudge, and his factions of conservative nobles are less than pleased that a commoner like Allen is educating members of the kingdom’s most prestigious families.

Duke Howard’s eldest daughter Stella was beginning to believe that she could live up to her family name. Despite her failure to master her family’s hereditary magic and falling out with her father, she managed to work her way to the top of her kingdom’s most prestigious academy. But after seeing her idol the Lady of the Sword in action and realizing that her once magically impaired younger sister has overtaken her in a matter of months, Stella’s newfound confidence comes crashing to the ground. Worse still, she has a gnawing suspicion that she only outranks her best friend at school thanks to racial prejudice. Allen, the gifted tutor who enabled her sister’s miraculous growth, may offer her only way out of her mounting depression. But can Stella bring herself to seek help, and can Allen give it in the face of an ever-growing list of demands for his time?

Allen sets out on an overdue trip home to the eastern capital—not just to his students’ dismay, but to his own as well. He’s been hiding his failure to become a court sorcerer from his parents, so despite his sister’s assurances, he finds himself dreading their reunion. Family problems are far from the only troubles awaiting him in his hometown, however—simmering tensions between the city’s large beastfolk population and its haughty human aristocracy are about to boil over, and hard-liners on both sides take a dim view of Allen’s status as an adopted member of the wolf clan. Meanwhile, the disgraced Prince Gerard hasn’t learned from his last defeat, and his rumored rebellion threatens to pull the tutor into a deadly web of conspiracy. Will the unexpected addition of Tina, Ellie, Lynne, and (of course) Lydia be enough to see Allen through his most physically—and politically—dangerous adventure yet?

After thwarting a nascent rebellion and restoring peace to the eastern capital, Allen prepares for some long-overdue rest. His students have returned to their respective homes, leaving the convalescent tutor in his family’s care...but the lazy days of summer are only the calm before the storm. Sinister forces are at work in the east, and they threaten to shake the kingdom to its very core. Shadowy conspiracy erupts into open war, separating Allen from his powerful companions and—worse yet—his trusty partner Lydia. The young sorcerer must turn to his fiercely protective sister Caren, his friend Richard, and a small band of knights in a battle for all he holds dear. But how much can so few accomplish against an army of unexpected foes wielding mysterious and devastating magic?

Lydia and Allen have always been a team. They can overcome any challenge together—so what happens when they’re apart? Allen has gone missing in the midst of a bloody insurrection. Witnesses to the enterprising tutor’s last stand fear the worst, while the plight of his beastfolk friends and family in the east grows more desperate by the day. Lydia wants nothing more than to rush to her partner’s aid, but with rebels occupying the capital and the opportunistic League of Principalities encroaching on her family’s lands, the Lady of the Sword will need to do the one thing she’s never been good at—wait. Her sister Lynne watches with growing concern as uncertainty takes its toll on her. What lines will Lydia dare to cross in her desperation to end this latest Southern War?

Outlooks are bleak in the Duchy of Howard. The imperial army looming on its northern border dwarfs the duke’s forces, and he can’t hope for reinforcements from a capital in the hands of hard-line aristocratic rebels. Lady Stella Howard, her younger sister Tina, and Tina’s maid Ellie are beside themselves with worry over the fate of their missing tutor Allen—last seen outnumbered and surrounded in the heart of enemy territory—but rescue plans will have to wait. The girls throw themselves into the war effort, anxious to hasten the end of the conflict in any way they can. Yet even their magical talents can only do so much, especially when sinister hooded figures join the enemy ranks. While Allen’s friends and family battle for their lives, the young sorcerer has his own trials to contend with. Captured, beaten, and flung into a mysterious ruin, he finds himself forced into a confrontation with startling truths—and an adversary who can more than match his skill.

All paths converge on the eastern capital. With the frontiers secure, the armies of three ducal houses march on the last bastion of the insurrection and its foreign allies, determined to relieve the besieged beastfolk population and put an end to the civil war. But the frantic Lady Lydia Leinster races ahead, burning her way through every obstacle in her desperation to learn the fate of her missing partner, Allen. As she spirals out of control, her growing power threatens to incinerate her humanity along with her enemies. Only the combined efforts of Lydia’s friends and Allen’s students stand a chance of restoring the rampaging swordswoman to her senses before it’s too late, but their undertaking won’t amount to much if the rebellion’s last gasp destroys the city with them in it. The upheaval in the kingdom is drawing to a close, and it will take the birth of a new legend to make its end anything but tragic.

The rebellion is finally at an end, leaving Allen to recuperate with his students in the eastern capital. But neither he nor his home city have long to tend their war wounds in peace. When the unassuming tutor is awarded the title of the legendary warrior he’s long admired, he finds himself facing not only the predictable backlash from what remains of the conservative aristocracy but also a challenge from his idol’s former comrades in arms! Can he prove himself to some of the mightiest soldiers alive? Of course, Allen’s own standing is far from his only concern. His partner Lydia has mysteriously lost her magical power, while his student Stella’s is just as inexplicably growing. His friend Gil is contemplating drastic measures to atone for family crimes. The sinister Church of the Holy Spirit continues to advance its plots abroad. And in the royal capital, a new conspiracy is brewing.

In the course of one disastrous meeting, Allen went from being hailed as his hometown’s savior to a fugitive from his own kingdom’s aristocracy. Even the brilliant tutor never saw that coming—although his partner Lydia did, if her well-packed suitcase is anything to go by. Finally making good on years of threats, she whisks him away to the city of water, where they can escape their homeland in style. But the renowned tourist destination is currently the capital of an enemy nation, and Allen’s friends have more planned for his trip than lying low and taking in the sights. Conspiracy lurks behind scenic canals and historic buildings as rival factions vie to prolong the war or conclude peace, and the specter of a more sinister power moves among them. Even working together, Allen and Lydia may finally have met their match.

Bad news stuns the southern capital: a church plot has severed contact with the city of water, leaving Allen and Lydia stranded in the middle of enemy territory and a burgeoning civil war. And no aid can reach them while the impregnable Fortress of Seven Towers stands. To help their tutor, Allen’s students will need to overcome the greatest defenses that nature and human ingenuity can create without him—and they’ll need to work fast. Lynne Leinster, for one, doesn’t know if she has it in her. Despite her tough talk, the young noblewoman feels intimidated by her friends’ brilliance. What can she do that they can’t do better? She’ll need to find her answer soon, because this crisis will demand everything that the girls have to give. And all the while, a sinister conspiracy draws nearer to its goal.

Mere days remain until the church’s designs on the city of water reach fruition. With no allied army on the way, Allen and Lydia prepare to fight alone against an array of deadly foes: a vampire who nearly killed them once before, a master of taboo sorcery, a lethal swordswoman, and two noblemen who hold the city in their grip. Behind them all looms the enigmatic Saint, who always seems to stay a step ahead of her opponents. Even victory on the battlefield may prove meaningless if Allen fails to unravel her schemes. But just when the odds seem insurmountable, the cavalry arrives in the form of Allen’s young students. Fresh from storming an impregnable fortress, the girls can’t wait to prove their worth and save their tutor. But how much difference can they make in this clash of legends? And can Allen bear to send them into battle, even with his own life on the line?