Divine Rivals

Iris Winnow and her elder brother, Forest, exchange solemn goodbyes at the train depot. Forest has enlisted in the army after hearing the song of the goddess Enva, calling him to battle. Iris promises to look after their mother and focus on excelling at school. Before departing, Forest gives Iris his trench coat and vows to write to her.

For the second time in a week, Iris arrives late to work at the Oath Gazette. Her rival, Roman C. Kitt, snags the last remaining assignment: an article about soldiers going missing from the front lines of the ongoing war between the gods. Iris is left with the less desirable duty of writing obituaries.

On Iris’s first day three months prior, Roman Kitt introduced himself coldly, “[a]s if he were measuring how much of a threat she was to him and his position at the Gazette” (10). Ever since overhearing him assure coworkers that she poses no threat to his career goal of becoming columnist due to her status as a high school dropout, Iris has made it her goal to antagonize and defeat him. She has also befriended a coworker named Sarah Prindle who discloses that Roman comes from a wealthy family and attended a prestigious school.