Gregory’s life changed when his aether sparked to life during the Age Day ritual. He left his old friends and his old life behind, and was taken to the Magi Academy to start training to serve the Vela Empire. Suddenly alone and out of place, he prepared for the worst. When the beautiful novice, Yukiko Warlin, asked if they could be friends, his life changed again. After six months of duplicity from the people who they had thought of as friends, Gregory and Yukiko isolated themselves from all the other novices. Gregory chose a path considered impossible for his training, and Yukiko followed, pushing each other to strive ever harder. When Yukiko’s betrothal was annulled, the two friends were free to express the deeper feelings that had developed between them. The first tournament for the novices was brutal on the two young lovers. Both of them were pushed to the absolute limit, but they endured. When they took the top two spots, their fellow novices dropped the pretense of friendship, when neither would bow to the machinations of their peers. Now, the rest of their first year stands before them. It’s become clear that they should join a clan, but where can they find one that would treat them both fairly and equally? (This book contains some adult themes.)