We Who Bleed in Red Silk. The Vermillion Throne, #1

She came to the arena to survive. She left with a blood oath, two vampires who won't leave her alone, and a secret that could get her killed before sunrise. Wei Lian doesn't have the luxury of fear. In the Ashbone Quarter, fear is just another thing that costs too much. What she does have: a dying brother, a debt she can't pay, and an ancient vampire at her door with an offer she cannot refuse. Enter the Crimson Trial - the most brutal arena competition in the Empire - and fight her way into the Dragon Emperor's Sacred Guard.
Then, once she's inside the palace walls, do the impossible. Kill the Emperor. Simple. Terrible. Hers. What Lian doesn't expect is for the Commander of the Sacred Guard to remove his war mask and show her the face she spent six years trying to forget. Shen Zhi left without a word. Now he's immortal, impossibly powerful, and standing between her and every move she makes. And she doesn't expect Zhao Yan - the Emperor's dangerous, brilliant, morally complicated son - to see through every wall she's built, hold the key to the secret power growing inside her, and make her question everything she thought she knew about loyalty, survival, and who the real enemy is.
Because the deeper Lian gets, the clearer it becomes: the blood oath binding her isn't just a deal. It's a trap. The conspiracy she's walking into is older than the Dynasty itself. And the power in her veins? It has a name. A history. And a list of dead women who carried it before her. She came to survive the Trial. She never planned on unravelling an empire.