Sebastian Allsaires belongs to the old money and older magic of Windermere College for the Aetheric Arts, where he is known as both a sportsman and a scholar.
Lily Perkins stands apart from that world; she is a loner, and she is cursed.
Founded so that anyone able to call aether could practice magic, the college has spent three centuries becoming a stronghold of privilege, open mainly to wealth, connections, or both.
A year-long Alchemy course forces Sebastian and Lily into the same laboratory, where they find they have far more in common than either first believes.
Together they follow secrets, both arcane and ordinary, back to the school's founding and into the society built around it.
What they uncover may bind them, or break them, for magic carries intention and the truth will not remain buried.
