A boarding school, a cursed bloodline, and two rival brothers who definitely weren’t in the brochure.

Nova’s spent her life waiting to die. Not because she wants to, but because her fragile heart can’t handle stress, change, or anything remotely fun. Still, when Mather Academy offers her a full ride, Nova can’t say no. Her mother attended Mather before going on to burn down their house with herself in it. Nova is desperate to learn who her mother was before everything ended in flames.

Mather looks perfect: ivy-covered buildings, luxury hotel–level dorms. And there’s golden boy Anders, who’s sweet and thoughtful and makes Nova feel seen. But shadows lurk—in the strange man who won’t stop following her, in her irrational fear of the surrounding forest, and in Anders’s twin, Soren, who is sharp, rude, and dangerously magnetic.

The deeper Nova digs, the darker the truth becomes: Her mother wasn’t just a student, she was a member of one of the school’s legacy families. Magic is real, and Nova has inherited it. Ancient rules forbid her from being with Anders or Soren, yet they’re the only people she can turn to as her power threatens to overwhelm her. To survive, Nova must uncover why her mother fled Mather . . . and who brought Nova back.