Elodie Kess lives a quiet life in Saffron-by-the-Sea. It’s not adventure and whirlwind romance, but as a scholar of magic with no magical ability of her own, it’s all she can hope for.

But when her brother, an esteemed professor at the High Arcanum Conservatory goes missing – alongside his closely guarded research – Elodie’s humdrum existence becomes anything but. Convinced she is the only one who can save him, Elodie returns to the Conservatory, glamoured as a first-year student.

Her number one suspect: Corvo, a centuries-old Dark Lord, sentenced to a lifetime cursed as a cat. But when Elodie’s extraordinary knack for repelling magic dispels his curse, she’s surprised not just to uncover a brilliant magician, but also a disarmingly handsome man. As the two begin to work together, she’s forced to question everything she’s been taught, and soon guarding her heart seems impossible. But for every lie in the history books, there is a grain of truth, and the Dark Lord was cursed for a reason…

‘I LOVED this book’ Ali Hazelwood

'Ashley Poston has done it again…Whimsical, emotional, and tender' B.K. Borison

‘An absolute and unexpected delight…the pages will probably sparkle (but with black glitter)’ Christina Lauren

‘Consider me Ashley Poston’s greatest admirer!’ Carley Fortune

'Smart, quick, and absolutely bubbling over with love for the genre of romance itself’ Emma Straub

'No one tells stories like Ashley Poston' Lindsey Kelk