Beneath the dreaming spires of Cambridge, a centuries-old secret is about to bleed into the present.

When controversial poet Alastair Finch falls to his death from a university tower, sharp-tongued academic Dr. Eleanor Croft is implicated. But Finch's death is no simple feud gone wrong. It's the key to unlocking the deadly legacy of the Pelican Society – a clandestine organization that has manipulated history from the shadows for generations.

Framed for murder and with only 48 hours left, Eleanor must decipher a trail of cryptic clues Finch left behind: hidden verses laced with historical references, ancient tokens marked with astrological symbols, complex cipher discs concealed within the college's hidden passages, and mechanisms tied to the movement of the heavens.

From the ancient undercroft of Corpus Christi to the guarded secrets of its oldest library, Eleanor, aided by the dead poet's son, must navigate a labyrinth of symbols, history, and lethal conspiracies. Hunted by a ruthless assassin known only as 'Aquila' and opposed by powerful figures hidden in plain sight, she's in a desperate race to uncover a truth the Society will kill to protect.

Can Eleanor unlock the final secret encoded in history before time runs out, or will she become another footnote in the Pelican Society's dark ledger?