Magic takes more than blood. It demands your soul.

Under the iron fist of the Arcanum Order, magic belongs only to the elite. For Scythe Valethorne, survival isn’t enough. By day, she scrapes by in the city’s poorest district, by night she is an assassin to provide for her family. When one mission turns into a deadly gamble, Scythe risks everything to steal a place into the Arcana’s stronghold—the Guild.

But when Asher Kyrell, the Guild’s most enigmatic leader, chooses her as his apprentice, Scythe is pulled into a lethal game of power and deception. His red gaze pierces her lies, his touch threatens her control, and every lesson draws her deeper into his fire. Yet Asher keeps his own deadly secrets, and every spark she feels for him could burn her mission to ashes. For one glance too long could cost her everything, and one stolen kiss could destroy them both.

Through danger and desire, Scythe uncovers far more than she bargained for within the walls of the Guild; about herself, the other initiates, and the sinister fractures within the perfect Arcanum Order. Scythe must decide if her fate lies in enduring the regime—or breaking it. Because what if magic isn’t just gained… but is still born in the shadows, waiting to rise again?