Attackers and defenders—the eternal symbiosis and eternal confrontation. They always work as a pair: one strikes, the other covers. And it has come to pass that everyone tries to secure a partner with whom they will have to work for the rest of their life as early as possible.
But there are exceptions to every rule. For Emelis of the Bien line, a mage’s career is unavailable. Once her studies are over, she will be forced to return to the life she ran from nine years ago—balls, intrigues, and poisonous smiles of high society.
So Emelis doesn’t need a partner—yet if there’s no other way to avoid the intrusive courtship of battle mages, she’ll have to make a deal. Not with her conscience, of course, but with the most mysterious student at the Durbor Academy of Magic. With the dark-haired blue-eyed guy who, like her, is forbidden to fall in love…