Black Crow: The Vermilion Bird’s Heir. Ghost King.

Zihan was sorting old lesson slips when the demolition notice hit the alley gate, and every resident started talking over one another. She had spent years teaching mortal children the skills that kept three great clans working, while she herself had never taken a single step on the path of power. That made her useful, and it also made her easy to overlook. When the dead began answering her quiet calls, she learned that the black path she had feared could protect the children better than any polite request ever had. The folded war fan on her shelf, the sealed token in her scroll pile, and the cauldron hidden in her sheath all pulled her toward a choice she had delayed for too long. The person...