Years ago, we shared a spell book, a tower room, and one stupid kiss. Then Evren stole my research, took the only apprenticeship I wanted, and left me with nothing but ash, rumors, and a place at the very bottom of the arcane ranks. Now the empire's magic is cracking. Wards are failing, spells are misfiring, and the ley lines under the capital are tearing themselves apart. The High Council turns to its golden prodigy to fix it, and he does the one thing I never expected- he asks for me. Our power still doubles whenever we touch, and our pride would rather let it eat us alive than admit it's real. To stop the collapse of magic itself, we'll have to revive the bond we swore we'd never use again, and decide which will break first: the empire, the magic, or us.