The King's Advisor

The King's Advisor

Yuki Dua

34.9k Words / Ongoing
4
Hot
49
Views

Introduction

In the bustling corridors of King Augustus' palace, Lurina, a humble scullery maid, leads a quiet existence, content with her simple life. But on the eve of her eighteenth birthday, a mysterious transformation shatters her world: she awakens as a fluffy white cat!

Adopted by the king himself, Lurina navigates her new feline form with trepidation, all while grappling with the revelation that, for one precious hour each night, she reverts to her human self. But as she learns to embrace her dual nature, she stumbles upon a dark conspiracy brewing within the palace walls.

With the kingdom's fate hanging in the balance, Lurina strikes an unlikely alliance with King Augustus, using her unique abilities to uncover the truth behind the nefarious plot. Together, they unravel a web of deceit, facing danger at every turn and forging a bond that transcends the boundaries of species.

As tensions rise and loyalties are tested, Lurina must tread carefully to protect her newfound home and the ones she holds dear. But when her human form is exposed at the most inopportune moment, she must confront her greatest challenge yet: embracing her true self in a world where secrets reign supreme.

"Whiskers and Secrets" is a captivating tale of friendship, intrigue, and self-discovery, where one brave maid-turned-cat must unravel the mysteries of her past to secure a future for herself and those she loves. Join Lurina on her extraordinary journey through palace intrigue and feline whimsy in this enchanting fantasy adventure.
Read More

Share the book to

facebooktwitterpinterestwhatsappreddit

About Author

Yuki Dua

Chapter 1

"Lurina!"

I turn toward Dinah’s voice and she gives me what I imagine is meant to be a disapproving look, but it's Dinah, so it comes across as fondness. "The goblets?" she prompts.

"Oh." I look down at my tray. Sure enough, the goblets are missing. "I'm sorry."

"Stop apologizing."

"Sorry."

At least that gets a laugh. "Where’s your head today?"

"I don't know." If anyone could catch me in a lie, it's Dinah, and this one isn't difficult to spot. In the past two years I've spent working as a maid in King Augustus' palace, I've never been so careless as to forget a single salad fork, dinner fork, dessert fork, or emergency extra fork. There's only one kind of goblet, and that's where the wine goes. From what I hear, wine's important.

Besides, Dinah is probably the only one here who knows that tomorrow is my birthday—and if not, she's certainly the only one who cares. To the others, I'm just one in an anonymous army, but Dinah's known me my whole life. She might as well be my grandmother, since I have no family of my own. She squeezes my hand and whispers, "Get through today and we'll celebrate you properly."

I have to smile at that. Have to, because she's trying. Dinah's a wizard in the kitchen, so I have no doubt that whatever birthday surprise she has in store for me will be delicious. But I suspect I'm now at an age where desserts alone can't satisfy me. There's something more that I want. The only trouble is, I don't know just what that is.

It's her own fault, anyway. Dinah was the one who read me storybooks growing up and told me every year that birthdays were special things, that birthday wishes made at the stroke of midnight were bound to come true. And though, every year, I grow wiser and, every year, I should grow out of this silly belief, every year, I still make a birthday wish at the stroke of midnight.

And every year, I'm disappointed.

I push the thoughts from my head, load my tray with the goblets alongside too many different kinds of forks, and head up to the King's private dining chamber. This is the real world. No miracle is coming along to change my life. I need to focus on the life I'm living, and do my job properly. That's what getting older is about.

Unfortunately, I'm so focused on doing my job that I don't notice the King entering the dining chamber as I exit to fetch more dishes from the kitchen. He's deep in conversation with Alvin, his valet, gesturing animatedly with a book in his hand as Alvin politely tries to avoid getting hit in the face with it. Somehow he's the only one who avoids disaster as the King and I collide, sending both our eyeglasses flying as we crash to the ground.

"Clumsy maid," spits Alvin. Search the skies and I couldn't tell you what that man has against me. After all, he's no more of a noble than I am. Then again, perhaps that's the reason.

"Sorry! I'm sorry. Apologies, Majesty. Alvin." I'd curtsey, but I'm busy fumbling around on all fours, trying to retrieve my glasses. "I'm so sorry." I can practically hear Dinah cringing from three floors away, telling me again to stop apologizing.

But the King merely chuckles. "Pesky things, aren't they?" I can only manage a voiced exhale that I hope sounds like a laugh as I pick something up, but the thing catches the light in a way that lets me know these can't belong to me. The gold of these frames could pay my salary for a year, maybe more. Wordlessly, I hand them back to the King as he hands me mine, the cheap wire miraculously intact.

"If magic were real," he says, standing up and dusting himself off, "we'd have a spell that could fix our eyes in a blink."

"Magic? Like in fairy tales?" I can't help smiling. The King is a few years older than me, but sometimes he seems much younger. I wonder if all the ladies at court who swoon over his dreamy eyes and perfect physique would feel differently if they knew of his reading preferences. Then again, he’s still the King. "I thought those were all made up to teach lessons to stubborn children about obeying their parents and not straying from the path." I pause. “Your Majesty.”

"That's what this book is about," he says eagerly, holding up his book, finger still marking his page. The King loves storybooks more than anyone in the world except maybe Dinah, and being noble, he has far more time to indulge his passion. To my surprise, he offers me his other hand to help me up, which I accept. "It posits that these stories are in fact history, passed down as lessons, warnings, perhaps even instruction."

Alvin clears his throat and takes the King by the elbow, leading him inside. I step back to let them pass. I know my place.

By the time I return with more heaping plates of food, we're joined by Duchess Demetria, the King's aunt. The chosen few, as usual. They'll talk politics and diplomacy, none of the gossip that the girls downstairs are eager for. It's so easy to turn my brain off, let my muscle memory do the work. If the practiced smile I plaster on fades a little bit, who's going to notice? No one looks a servant in the face. Even good King Gus doesn’t look for long.

Alvin starts hounding the King about a recent visit from a diplomat, which he took as a threat. Personally, I think a country waging war wouldn't bother sending a diplomat ahead of time, but what do I know?

The King seems to agree with me. "No sense in being hasty," he says. "Why make an enemy where you can have a friend?"

"There's no such thing as countries being friends," Alvin insists.

That's when it happens. I have to laugh.

Barely even a laugh, really. A hearty exhale. Still, it's more noise than I've made since I stepped into the chamber, save the collision before dinner. Everyone slowly turns to look at me. I've never had so many people looking at me before.

"I'm sorry," I start, but the damage has been done. Alvin looks furious, the Duchess curious, the King...well, I can't quite tell. I'm too afraid to look at him.

"Don't apologize," he says. "Tell us. You clearly have a strong opinion."

"Well." Do I? I've never thought of myself as having a strong opinion before, but no one's ever asked. Feeling emboldened, I press on. "Of course countries are friends. Carbonel has trade treaties, peace agreements, lands we've sought aid from in times of need and returned it to in theirs. Our friends make us great. A diplomat suggests to me someone interested in maintaining that friendship. So, as you said—Your Majesty"—with a quick curtsey, in case I'm in danger of seeming like I've forgotten my station—"why assume the worst?"

Alvin scowls at me, but I hardly notice in the light of the King's twinkling eyes. He's kind but quiet, and I rarely hear him laugh, so every smile's a welcome reward.

Unfortunately, it's distracting enough that the gazpacho I'm serving somehow finds its way out of the ladle and all over the Royal Lap. Alvin sputters as if he's the one who's just had soup spilled all over him. The Duchess' smirk is the closest thing to a smile I've ever won from her. As for the King? I'm too afraid to look at him. Again.

"Sorry!" I shout, far too loud. "I'm sorry," again, at a more decorous volume. "Your Majesty, I am so—"

"Maid," Alvin says coldly, though I swear behind the scowl he's somehow also smirking, "leave us. You're dismissed."

Whether he means from dinner or from the palace, who's to say?

I skip Dinah and dessert, rushing through the kitchen and ignoring everyone who calls after me in my haste to lock myself in my room. My distress must be evident, because not even Dinah comes knocking until later in the night.

"Lurina?"

"How bad is it?" I don't know if she can hear me, muffled as I am against my pillow.

Dinah sighs. Never a good sign. Dinah can find the bright side in anything. "Alvin has lodged a formal complaint," she says hesitantly. "On behalf of the King."

"I see." That's that, then. Alvin's animosity, I've grown used to over the years. But I'd thought the King had somewhat liked me. If even he wants to let me go, there's no getting around it.

"I'm so sorry, Lurina."

"Stop apologizing," I reply, hoping she smiles. "I'll be all right. Can we talk about this tomorrow?"

Tomorrow, when I officially get fired. Dinah's kind enough not to say it out loud. "Good night, Lurina."

"Thank you, Dinah."

"Happy early birthday."

So much for that. For someone whose every birthday has been a disappointment, this one takes the cake—ironic, since I probably won’t get to eat any.

But the thought of cake makes my stomach growl. This late in the night, surely the kitchen will be empty. I'll be left alone in my disgrace, enjoy one last night of royal leftovers, and try not to think about how I'll never find another job or a place to live or three square meals a day again. I'm an orphan with no outstanding skills or talents, not even pretty enough to marry well. Could I even be hired as a maid now, when my only reference will be someone from the palace claiming I tried to drown the King in cold soup?

Right. Tomorrow. Tonight, there's at least cake.

Accompanying the cake is a small fire in the fireplace and a cup of tea. If a splash of the King's whiskey finds itself in it, why not? He can't fire me twice. (Can he?)

The whiskey stings a little going down, yet I find myself wanting more as soon as it fades. He can't fire me thrice. (He could, he's the King.) This should be celebratory, a happy birthday wish, but no, wishes are for children and in five minutes, I'll be eighteen. All grown up. No more fairy tales or happily ever afters.

Still, I can't stop staring at the clock as it ticks ever closer to midnight. What's the harm in wishing one last time? Either magic isn't real and nothing happens and everything is exactly as miserable as it is right now, or...

I don't even want to finish that sentence. I don't dare to hope. But I still wish. Oh, how I wish.

I pour what remains of the whiskey into my cup. (Let him do what he wants.) As the seconds race by, I squeeze my eyes shut and wish, pray, plead, beg for a solution to my problems. A personality transplant for Alvin. A memory wipe for the King. A way to stay, any way.

The clock begins to chime. Perhaps it's the whiskey taking quick effect but it's loud, so loud, too loud. Are there more clocks than I thought in here? Are the clocks bigger than they were before? Are they... Am I...

Wait.

When I open my eyes, I'm suddenly on the ground. But I'm not lying down, I don’t think. Or maybe I am, and that's why everything looks so different. And feels so different. Even the air tastes different. Strange sounds are everywhere, and everything's the wrong color. I try to get to my feet, but when I place my hands on the floor to brace myself, they're not hands at all.

They're... No.

The tea. Too much whiskey. That's all. I go to pick up the cup I dropped but my fingers are all wrong. My fingers look like beans. Why are they so hairy?

And then I see it. My reflection, in the spilled tea and whiskey that have cursed me.

Fluffy. White. Paws. Whiskers.

I’m a cat.

I scream, but it comes out as a purr.

Comments

No comments yet.

You Might Like 😍

My Marked Luna

My Marked Luna

Ongoing · Sunshine Princess
"Will you continue to disobey me?" he asks, his gaze cool and hard.
"Yes,"
He exhales, raises his hand, and brings it down to slap my naked as again... harder than before. I gasp at the impact. It hurts, but it is so hot, and sexy.
"Will you do it again?"
"No,"
"No, what?"
"No, Sir,"
"Best girl," he brings his lips to kiss my behind while he caresses it softly.
"Now, I'm going to fck you," He sits me on his lap in a straddling position. We lock gazes. His long fingers find their way to my entrance and insert them.
"You're soaking for me, baby," he is pleased. He moves his fingers in and out, making me moan in pleasure.
"Hmm," But suddenly, they are gone. I cry as he leaves my body aching for him. He switches our position within a second, so I'm under him. My breath is shallow, and my senses are incoherent as I anticipate his hardness in me. The feeling is fantastic.
"Please," I beg. I want him. I need it so badly.
"So, how would you like to come, baby?" he whispers.
Oh, goddess!


Apphia's life is harsh, from being mistreated by her pack members to her mate rejecting her brutally. She is on her own. Battered on a harsh night, she meets her second chance mate, the powerful, dangerous Lycan Alpha, and boy, is she in for the ride of her life. However, everything gets complicated as she discovers she is no ordinary wolf. Tormented by the threat to her life, Apphia has no choice but to face her fears. Will Apphia be able to defeat the iniquity after her life and finally be happy with her mate? Follow for more.
Warning: Mature Content
450.5k Views
The Matchmaker

The Matchmaker

Ongoing · Sophie Smith
Saphira White has spent her life as an outcast—unloved, ignored, and falsely accused of a crime she didn’t commit. Abandoned by her mother and raised in the ruthless Silvermoon Pack, she’s treated as nothing more than a shadow. When her step-sister Ruby brands her a murderer, the pack delivers the cruellest punishment of all: exile to the Matchmaker, the most feared institution in supernatural history.

No one escapes the Matchmaker unscathed. The process is simple—each participant is paired with a supernatural being, often sealing their fate with blood. Death is the most common outcome, and Saphira expects nothing less. But when the impossible happens, she is matched with a creature so legendary, so powerful, that even the bravest tremble at its name—a royal dragon.

Now bound to an ancient force of destruction, Saphira finds herself among the royal pack. With them, she navigates a world of power, deception, and destiny. As she walks this new path, familiar faces resurface, bringing long-buried secrets to light. Her heritage—once a mystery—begins to unravel, revealing a truth that may change everything.
Crowned by Fate

Crowned by Fate

Completed · Tina Savage
“You think I’d share my mate? Just stand by and watch while you fuck another woman and have her kids?”
“She’d just be a Breeder, you would be the Luna. Once she’s pregnant, I wouldn’t touch her again.” my mate Leon’s jaw tightened.
I laughed, a bitter, broken sound.
“You’re unbelievable. I’d rather accept your rejection than live like that.”


As a girl without a wolf, I left my mate and my pack behind.
Among humans, I survived by becoming a master of the temporary: drifting job to job… until I became the best bartender in a dusty Texas town.
That’s where Alpha Adrian found me.
No one could resist the charming Adrian, and I joined his mysterious pack hidden deep in the desert.
The Alpha King Tournament, held once every four years, had begun. Over fifty packs from across North America were competing.
The werewolf world was on the verge of a revolution. That’s when I saw Leon again...
Torn between two Alphas, I had no idea that what awaited us wasn’t just a competition—but a series of brutal, unforgiving trials.
Author Note:New book out now! The River Knows Her Name
Mystery, secrets, suspense—your next page-turner is here.
Welcome to Hell

Welcome to Hell

Ongoing · Williane Kassia
He was engaged. Straight.
An ordinary man with a bright future ahead.
But a single betrayal was enough to shatter everything.

Framed by the woman he loved and his own brother, he was sentenced and thrown into the worst place imaginable: a prison where rules don’t exist—and danger has a name, a face… and hungry eyes.

Now, he shares a cell with the most feared man in the entire facility.

Dominant. Intense. Obsessive.

And he wants him.

Not out of love.
Not out of mercy.
But out of pure, ruthless desire.

In a world with no laws, no escape, and no one to save him, he becomes the wolf’s bunny—submissive to his touch, a prisoner of pleasure… and completely unable to resist.

Because sometimes, it’s the monster who knows exactly how to make you feel alive.
381.5k Views
Crossing the lines ( Sleeping with my Best friends)

Crossing the lines ( Sleeping with my Best friends)

Completed · Nia Kas
Layla's POV :Little did I think my world would be turned upside down. Dean and Aleck my best friends who who protected me ever since kindergarten and had always remained by my side, truly were nothing like I remembered. Ever since I was eighteen I knew and I kept it hidden, I hid it so well until it wasn't. Falling in love with your Best friends isn't something you should do especially when they're twin brothers. Our friendship was good until I ditched them for my Own sanity. Disappearing did the trick however a spur of the moment
get together with the rest of our college friends,led me to reveal some of my secrets. And some of theirs. From being accused by friends I gave up. Little did I know the get together was just a ruse for them to get back into my life and they were playing the long game, making sure I belonged to them and them only.
Dean's POV : The minute we I opened the door and saw her ,so beautiful, I knew it was either going to go our way or she ran. We fell in love with her at Eighteen,she was seventeen and off limits,she saw us as brother so we waited, when she disappeared we let her ,she thought we had no idea where she was ,she as absolutely fucking wrong. We watch her every move and knew how to make her cave to our wishes.
Aleck's POV : Little Layla had become so fucking beautiful, Dean and I decided she would be ours. She walked around the island unaware if what was coming her way.one way or the other Our best friend would end up under us in our bed and she would ask for it too.
460.2k Views
Hucow: Naughty Nectar Farms

Hucow: Naughty Nectar Farms

Ongoing · Harley Steele
From the dark imagination of Harley Steele, a chilling story unfolds—a frightful tale of twisted horrors.

Hey, my name's Alice, and my boyfriend's name is... Yeah, no, we're not doing that song and dance. Naw. Once upon a time, I was just another girl hoping for a simple life after high school. Now, I'm ensnared in the grotesque reality of Naughty Nectar Farms (NNF), not a farm but a prison where shadows don’t just whisper—they scream with the horrors of the night.

My stepfather, blinded by greed, sold my freedom and my innocence to this nightmare. Here, I am nothing more than livestock, subjected to the twisted whims of those who see women as commodities to be bred, milked, and broken. But while they may have trapped my body, they can't imprison my will.

Each day, I hear the hushed, sinister talks of breeding and milking disguised as agricultural innovation. I see the cruel fate of my fellow captives, poked, prodded, and dehumanized. Yet in this lab of horrors, where humanity is stripped away, I hold onto one truth—they think I am weak, demure, broken. They are mistaken.

I am guilty of many things, but submission is not one of them. Here in the depths of despair, my fury simmers. I am plotting, waiting. For though they have taken much, my resolve grows with each passing day. I will lead us out of this darkness, or die trying. This is no ordinary farm, and I am no ordinary woman.
306.5k Views
The Son of Red Fang

The Son of Red Fang

Completed · Diana Sockriter
Alpha werewolves should be cruel and merciless with unquestionable strength and authority, at least that’s what Alpha Charles Redmen believes and he doesn’t hesitate to raise his kids to be the same way.
Alpha Cole Redmen is the youngest of six born to Alpha Charles and Luna Sara Mae, leaders of the Red Fang pack. Born prematurely, Alpha Charles rejected him without hesitation as weak and undeserving of his very life. He is reminded daily of his father’s hatred for him paving the way for the rest of his family to become the same.
By adulthood, his father’s hatred and abuse towards him has spilled over into the rest of the pack making him the scapegoat for those with the sadistic need to see him suffer. The rest are simply too afraid to even look his way leaving him little in the way of friends or family to turn to.
Alpha Demetri Black is the leader of a sanctuary pack known as Crimson Dawn. It’s been years since a wolf has made their way to his pack via the warrior’s prospect program but that doesn’t mean he’s not looking for the tell tale signs of a wolf in need of help.
Malnourished and injured upon his arrival, Cole’s anxious and overly submissive demeanor lands him in the very situation he’s desperate to avoid, in the attention of an unknown alpha.
Yet somehow through the darkness of severe illness and injury he runs into the very person he’s been desperate to find since he turned eighteen, his Luna. His one way ticket out of the hell he’s been born into.
Will Cole find the courage needed to leave his pack once and for all, to seek the love and acceptance he’s never had?

Content Warning: This story contains descriptions of mental, physical and sexual abuse that may trigger sensitive readers. This book is intended for adult readers only.
509.6k Views
The Alpha's Hunt

The Alpha's Hunt

Ongoing · Ms.M
Every girl at the age of eighteen, if left unmated, is volunteered for the Alphas Hunt. Hazel is no exception and also the only one who sees it not as a chance to find a strong Alpha to take care of her, but rather as a ceremony that strips you of your free will and sends you out into the woods to be hunted like a deer.

If she is claimed she will be his. If she is not, she will return in shame and be shunned from her pack.
Hazel knows the ways of the Alphas, being the daughter of a Beta, but what she doesn't count on is the presence of the Lycan King. The leader of all is participating in his first-ever hunt, and she is his prey.

Warning: This book contains a LOT of mature content such as strong language, explicit sx scenes, physical and mental abuse, BDSM, etc.*
555.8k Views
Claimed by My Bully Alpha

Claimed by My Bully Alpha

Ongoing · Anna Kendra
Aurora Valentine wishes she could just escape this world and leave everything behind. Tormented, bullied and harassed on a daily basis, she lives in the mercy of her treacherous, gambler and alcoholic father who loves to abuse her. Her fellow students in high school despise her for no reason and she is often harassed at her work. The only thing holding her back is her five year brother, Riley, who her mother had entrusted to her on her deathbed. But things take a turn for the worst when the school’s biggest bully and bad boy, Caleb Blackburn, suddenly takes an interest in her.
Suddenly, the boy who used to be her tormentor had turned into her protector, attracting the attention of not only other allies, but jealous classmates that want her gone forever. But how can she accept the fact that the boy who had tormented her all through high school was suddenly obsessed with her? Will she give love a chance or will she end up just like her mother, broken and destroyed and six feet under.
453.3k Views
My Billionaire Husband Wants an Open Marriage

My Billionaire Husband Wants an Open Marriage

Ongoing · Anna Kendra
“What do you do when the love of your life wants to love someone else?”
"I want an open marriage. I want sex. And I just can’t do that with you anymore."
“How can you do this to me, Tristan? After everything?”
Sophia’s heart breaks when her husband, Tristan, pushes for an open marriage after twelve years of marriage, saying her life as a housewife and mom has killed their spark. Desperate to hold their twelve-year bond together, Sophia reluctantly agrees.
But what hits worse than the open marriage is how quickly her husband dives into the dating pool, even going as far as to violate their set boundaries.
Hurt and angry, Sophia escapes to her art school, where she meets Nathaniel Synclair, a charming new sponsor who lights a fire in her. They talk, and Nathaniel suggests a wild idea: he’ll pretend to be her fake lover to get back at her husband’s double standards.
Caught in the love triangle between her broken marriage and Nathaniel’s pull, Sophia hesitates, sparking a mix of want, lies, and truth that shakes up all she knows about love, trust, and who she really is.
The Rejected Luna: From Outcast to Alpha Queen

The Rejected Luna: From Outcast to Alpha Queen

Completed · Daisy Swift
Five years. Five years I gave everything to Paxton Sterling—my heart, my body, my wolf's soul. I built his empire as Chief Strategy Officer while wearing his mark like a badge of honor.

Then she came back.

Layla—my pure-blooded half-sister with her perfect smile and poison tongue. Within days of her return from Europe, Paxton was ready to throw me away like yesterday's news.

"I want to sever our bond, Freya. Lyra is my true mate."

Wrong move, Alpha.

He thinks I'm just another submissive mate who'll quietly disappear. He's forgotten I'm a mixed-blood Alpha who's been playing nice for far too long. While he's busy playing house with my backstabbing sister, Lucas Morgan—the most dangerous Alpha in the territory—is making me an offer I can't refuse.

Paxton wants to discard me? Fine.

But he's about to learn that some women don't just walk away—they burn everything down on their way out.

I'm done being the good girl. Done being the perfect mate. Done hiding what I really am.
Alpha Nicholas's Little Mate

Alpha Nicholas's Little Mate

Ongoing · Becky j
"Mate is here!"
What? No—wait… oh Moon Goddess, no.
Please tell me you're joking, Lex.
But she's not. I can feel her excitement bubbling under my skin, while all I feel is dread.
We turn the corner, and the scent hits me like a punch to the chest—cinnamon and something impossibly warm. My eyes scan the room until they land on him. Tall. Commanding. Beautiful.
And then, just as quickly… he sees me.
His expression twists.
"Fuck no."
He turns—and runs.
My mate sees me and runs.
Bonnie has spent her entire life being broken down and abused by the people closest to her including her very own twin sister. Alongside her best friend Lilly who also lives a life of hell, they plan to run away while attending the biggest ball of the year while it's being hosted by another pack, only things don't quite go to plan leaving both girls feeling lost and unsure about their futures.
Alpha Nicholas is 28, mateless, and has no plans to change that. It's his turn to host the annual Blue Moon Ball this year and the last thing he expects is to find his mate. What he expects even less is for his mate to be 10 years younger than him and how his body reacts to her. While he tries to refuse to acknowledge that he has met his mate his world is turned upside down after guards catch two she-wolves running through his lands.
Once they are brought to him he finds himself once again facing his mate and discovers that she's hiding secrets that will make him want to kill more than one person.
Can he overcome his feelings towards having a mate and one that is so much younger than him? Will his mate want him after already feeling the sting of his unofficial rejection? Can they both work on letting go of the past and moving forward together or will fate have different plans and keep them apart?
201.4k Views
Take you Fall into Fantasy.

Download AnyStories App to discover more Fantasy Stories.