The Crown of Thorns

| Equally matched leads | Brothers turned enemies | Obsessive revenge | Tortured romance

“Let the stars be our pact and love and hate our game. I shall make my empire a cage, and imprison only you.”

Xiao Yan, emperor of the Tianxuan Dynasty, was the celestial ruler chosen by Heaven: powerful, perfect, and radiant as the midday sun. His one lifelong obsession was his younger brother, Xiao Jing, who forever hid in the shadows and watched him with jealous eyes.

Xiao Jing was hailed as the most beautiful prince in the capital, and was also the empire’s most dangerous poison. He had lived in his elder brother’s shadow since childhood. His talents went unnoticed, his love twisted, leaving him with nothing but bone-deep jealousy and resentment. He vowed that, whatever the cost, he would drag that sun from its lofty throne and grind it into the mud.

A carefully planned coup, and a failure that came as no surprise.

When Xiao Jing awoke from his dream of power, cold shackles were already locked around his ankles. He was imprisoned not only by the nine-tiered palace, but by Xiao Yan’s suffocating, all-consuming possessiveness.

“Do you hate me?” The emperor caressed his pale face, his voice low as a sigh. “Then spend the rest of your life hating me.”

From then on, the phoenix was locked in a golden cage, their days and nights consumed by one another.

He plotted at every turn in captivity, while the emperor gave ground at every turn in the throes of love.

Only when buried truths came to light and hidden dangers erupted did they finally realize:

The fiercest fire in the world is frozen feelings bursting into flame; the strongest cage is a shackle woven in love’s name.

This is a dangerous game played at the pinnacle of power, and a heart-wrenching tale of redemption and ruin. Watch as the sun and moon vie to outshine each other, then find their only way to coexist through collision.