Gideon the Ninth

Gideon Nav wants out of the Ninth House, where she has lived in servitude among skeletons, nuns, and bone magic. Her escape plan is interrupted when Harrowhark, the House heir and Gideon’s childhood nemesis, forces her into a bargain: accompany her as cavalier, or lose any chance at freedom.

The Emperor has summoned the heirs of the Nine Houses to a trial of skill, wit, and survival, with immortality promised to those who succeed. At the First House, Gideon and Harrow join a large cast of necromancers and cavaliers in a decaying, gothic setting where rules are unclear and danger is constant.

As the contestants face mysterious challenges, deaths, secrets, and shifting alliances, the story becomes part mystery, part horror, and part character drama. Gideon and Harrow’s tense bond develops under pressure as the trial grows stranger and more lethal, pushing the pair toward an ending that leaves major questions open.