BOOK 1 · COMING SOON

Upstart at the Royal Academy

BY BRENT HOLLIS

Power runs the Royal Academy, and Brandon Mercer means to have every scrap of it: rank, riches, and the fiercest women in his year.

As a baron’s youngest son, Brandon has a good name, no inheritance, and more ambition than his family can afford. The Royal Academy offers everything he wants, if he can earn it. And with a rare gift for taking other people’s spells apart, he’s ready to make a name for himself.

There’s money to win in the dueling ring, better magic to learn, and a life of fine clothes, good wine, and private rooms that he’s tired of watching other men enjoy. Every victory brings him closer, and some of the academy’s most formidable women are taking a very personal interest.

Lady Cecily Harcourt has expensive tastes, a vicious competitive streak, and every intention of claiming him. Ice prodigy Juliet Price demands his best during their lessons and keeps finding reasons to spend more time alone with him. Brandon wants them both, and he’s willing to work for that, too.

Being the youngest son doesn’t mean Brandon has to settle for the smallest share.

• An ambitious underdog with one-of-a-kind spell-breaking magic
• Academy duels, tournaments, and status climbing
• Levels, skills, and a private character sheet
• Powerful women who actively pursue him
• Slow-burn, committed relationships with explicit heat
• A greedy, wisecracking fairy-dragon familiar

Upstart at the Royal Academy is an academy HaremLit/LitRPG adventure told in first-person past tense from the male lead’s POV. It’s the first book in a planned trilogy, with a complete story arc and no cliffhanger.