Chapter 1: The Smallest Demon Sovereign

The child arrived on a Tuesday in a basket with no note, which was already unusual, and with eyes that were an entirely incorrect shade of silver, which was more unusual still. Lin Yan, who had read enough of the novel to know exactly who this was, stood in the doorway of the orphanage holding a bowl of congee and had a very rapid internal conversation with herself about the nature of fate, the ethics of foreknowledge, and whether she was genuinely going to let the future Demon Sovereign cry alone in a basket on her doorstep. She was not. She picked him up.