On the day of my twentieth birthday, a brutally handsome Shadow Fae darkens my doorway and whisks me away to an elite Fae academy. The problem is I'm not Fae, and I certainly don't have any magical powers. Despite this, I'm thrust into a realm where magic is as vital as breath and far more dangerous. Thrown into an academy teeming with powerful Fae, I must navigate the treacherous waters of magical education, summon my dormant powers, and battle merciless fellow students to prepare to face the rival Arcanum Citadel across the river.

The shadow magic has always whispered to Wren. The same dark power that once ravaged her home kingdom of Asteroth. So she must keep her magic hidden, only using it to help people in need in the remote border village she calls home. Discovery of her gifts would mean death. Noble knight Finn has sworn to serve his new home, Asteroth, by hunting down those who use shadow magic. He has never forgiven his father, ruler of enemy kingdom Ilanthus, for his terrible cruelty.

The all-knowing semelees swirled around me in the Veiled Between, crooning and writhing. “You’ve come to us, Daughter of Darkness, Princess of Shadows. Tell us what you seek.”On the Silten continent, I’m the only fae who can walk the Veiled Between. My rare power is immense and dangerous, so the authorities have entrusted me to my guardian who controls my potent magic with an enchanted device. To avoid the device’s searing punishment, I submit to a dutiful life. Until one terrifying night everything changes.

Seventeen-year-old Fallon Bane was born with a curse: A single touch from another person will always cause her excruciating pain. Thus, she has accepted that she will die without ever being kissed, without even hugging her own father. But when her beloved father falls ill, she breaks into the magical Gilded City to find a healer fae who can save him. When handsome healer Ariyon Madden agrees to help, everything she knows about herself and her curse changes. Because during her father’s healing, Ariyon reaches out and touches her bare skin. She waits for the agony...but it never comes.

For twenty years, I’ve been an unwanted changeling. I have no name, no family, and no answers. Until an irresistibly wicked faerie begins a seductive game of cat and mouse. I am his prey. His treasure. A perfect pet. He offers a trade: he will take me to the faerie realms to assist in my search for the truth of who I am. In return, I must agree to marry him. But things are not as they seem, and soon after arriving at his wintry manor, I begin to unravel a dangerous web of lies.