In a world where ghosts, magic, and dragons exist, one desperate girl faces a dangerous competition to become one of the Favored. Kuni is a country built on honor. But honor is never easy to maintain when the kingdom is filled with corruption, and enemies are threatening war at the borders. When the old emperor dies, a new one rises and he needs people he can trust by his side to help purge the corruption in his realm.Orphaned Mizuki has only ever known farming, but working the land is difficult, lonely work and it's getting harder every year to do it alone. She's facing another long winter and near starvation, until a royal decree arrives. She is to leave her home and make a journey to the capital. The new emperor demands the best citizens of Kuni to join his court, and she must register and be tested to find if her place is among them.Mizuki is doubtful. Who would want a poor farming girl in a royal court? It's not until a woman who claims to have been employed by the last empress finds her, and promises she can turn Mizuki from a sow into royalty. But competition at court is deadly, and after only a couple of days in the city, Mizuki realizes she needs the old woman, not just to learn the ways of the royals, but for her survival. She'll need people she can trust and will have to keep them close as she struggles to stay in the competition and alive. Join Mizuki, Sota, Ryuu, and Shima as they face incredible odds to become one of the Favored in this epic, Asian-based fantasy.

Kayli Winchester is a dirt-poor girl living out of a hotel, forced to be the parent for a drunken father and teenage brother who she’s desperate to keep in school. The only way she scrapes by is to utilize her one skill: pickpocketing. But even though she’s a thief she has a moral code: no kids or old ladies, only targets who can defend themselves. Not that they see her coming… Thinking she’s been working under the radar, Kayli has no idea The Academy has been watching and taking notice. Now a team that needs her skill has offered her a way out of her predicament and it’s her last chance: work with them, or face jail time. Kayli resists at first, but slowly the boys reveal they can be trusted. With Marc, the straight man, Raven, the bad-boy Russian, Corey and Brandon the twins as different as night and day, and Axel their stoic leader, there’s a lot Kayli can learn from these Academy guys about living on the edge of the law. If only she can stay on the good side instead of the bad. Especially when the job they offer her is more than any of them bargained for. After it’s done, the hunters have become the hunted and their target is now after Kayli. The Academy boys do their best to keep her hidden, but a thief like Kayli will never sit still for long. Meet an all-new Academy team in Thief, the beginning of the Scarab Beetle series. Warning: This is a new adult series. Readers of the other Academy series may need some caution as this series will contain mature sexual and violent situations and themes.