Waiting on Wednesday: The Crown's Game by Evelyn Skye

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine. This meme spotlights upcoming releases that I'm eagerly anticipating. ---
The Crown's Game
The Crown's Game #1
Evelyn Skye
Expected Publication: May 17, 2016
Genre: YA Fantasy, Historical Fiction

Vika Andreyeva can summon the snow and turn ash into gold. Nikolai Karimov can see through walls and conjure bridges out of thin air. They are enchanters—the only two in Russia—and with the Ottoman Empire and the Kazakhs threatening, the Tsar needs a powerful enchanter by his side.

And so he initiates the Crown’s Game, an ancient duel of magical skill—the greatest test an enchanter will ever know. The victor becomes the Imperial Enchanter and the Tsar’s most respected adviser. The defeated is sentenced to death.

Raised on tiny Ovchinin Island her whole life, Vika is eager for the chance to show off her talent in the grand capital of Saint Petersburg. But can she kill another enchanter—even when his magic calls to her like nothing else ever has?

For Nikolai, an orphan, the Crown’s Game is the chance of a lifetime. But his deadly opponent is a force to be reckoned with—beautiful, whip smart, imaginative—and he can’t stop thinking about her.

And when Pasha, Nikolai’s best friend and heir to the throne, also starts to fall for the mysterious enchantress, Nikolai must defeat the girl they both love . . . or be killed himself.

As long-buried secrets emerge, threatening the future of the empire, it becomes dangerously clear . . . the Crown’s Game is not one to lose.

When I see a hint of a love triangle, I immediately say hell to the no. I really don't like love triangles. But The Crown's Game... It's been a long time since I've read a Russian-inspired book (I think the last was the Katerina trilogy by Robin Bridges and Queen of Someday by Sherry D. Ficklin). Plus, this is fantasy with people wielding powers and an empire that's being threatened by secrets (isn't this plot similar to the WoW book I had last week?). But that love triangle... T^T