The Name Beneath the Skin

In late-Edo Kyoto, orphaned master-calligrapher Kiyono Sumida is summoned by the imperial court to restore the true name of Emperor Tenmei, whose birth-identity was ritually erased six years ago. Each kanji of his name must be written in blood-ink on his skin, breaking a spell that made him belong to the throne instead of himself.

To leave the inscription unfinished means treason. To sign her pen-name beneath his restored name means binding her hands, her magic, and her future to him forever.

“They erased his name to make him belong to the throne. I will inscribe it again – in my own blood – on his skin.”