Barely three months after Victor Kaine slaughtered a Frost Demon at the Winter Ball, Ravenwick's only magic-less professor has got Ballistic Thaumatology onto the syllabus, and a Cadre of grad students who've decided he's theirs. Then a courier imp drops off a letter from Master Smith Keldor. The Foundry, a school that builds war-golems, have accepted Headmaster Ash's invitation to a little inter-school tournament, and they're coming to prove the Battle Mage is a fraud. That same afternoon, the drones that have watched Victor for three months leave the sky, and some fairly obvious wet-team agents turn up among the new kitchen staff. Victor knows his ex-employers only ever clear the airspace before something big comes in...

Meanwhile Luna's power keeps climbing every time she and Victor are together, and Penny has found Nightshades in the archives who went off like Krakatoa. The Cadre needs someone new to soak up the overflow, and the answer turns out to be Melody Lark.

Can a man with no magic keep a Cadre this powerful from swallowing him whole while the Foundry try to cheat the tournament? Or will the Agency finish whatever it cleared the sky for before the first match?

Guns vs magic, a Null MC, a magic academy, found family, and a Cadre that keeps growing. Book two of Ravenwick Academy, and all five books are out now.