When Alice Nightingale's blood magic awakens with a vision of death, she knows one truth: If she masters it, she survives. If she surrenders to it, she becomes a monster.

The Umbral Academy stands fractured after fire and betrayal. Its survivors bear scars, its halls echo with ghosts, and beneath its ancient stones, something hungry stirs in the dark Alice thought she understood sacrifice. She watched her best friend walk through the flames. She learned that power demands a price written in blood.

But the Second Trial changes everything.

At the Academy, knowledge is seduction. Blood is currency. And the professors who should protect her might be the most dangerous of all: Professor Corvin D'Aramond, the ruthless scholar whose intellect cuts deeper than any blade, and whose obsession with mastery mirrors her own. Lucien Vale , his charming assistant who offers warmth in a world of ice, and hides loyalty that could save or destroy them all. Adrian Vauclair, the vampire whose hunger for power awakens something darker... A temptation that tastes like destiny and ruin.

Bound by forbidden magic. Hunted by the dead. Torn between three men who would claim her heart, her power, or her soul.

To survive the Academy's deadliest trial yet, Alice must descend into the labyrinth of her own mind and face the truth she's been running from...

For fans of Fourth Wing, A Court of Thorns and Roses, and From Blood and Ash comes a darkly seductive romantasy where the blood remembers…and the gods are waking.

Enemies. Mentors. Monsters. Lovers.

Welcome to the Academy where trust is earned in blood and desire is the most dangerous magic of all.