A rebellious mage acolyte. A washed-up warrior turned spy. A priceless ancient tome on magic.
Torn from her family as a young child to train on the Isle of Innesfarne, Acolyte Rune just wants to heal using herbs and her elemental magic. Even though Rune resists the dark initiations of the mage school, she’s the only one to pass the Relic Test and read the scrap from the Book of Light—an ancient text holding magic’s secrets.
Rune is determined to find the original manuscript and decipher the truth before magic leaves Dál Cruinne forever.
Once a great warrior, now a maimed has-been, Evander is ordered by his ruthless conquering uncle to abduct the young acolyte and steal the jewel-encrusted relic in exchange for the freedom he desperately craves.
Unaware of Evander’s true motivations, Rune enlists him as protector and guide to travel to the book’s hiding place tucked away in a dragon’s hoard.
Evander’s ex-sword-brother and a dark mage pursue them, both resolved to obtain the Book of Light for their own purposes. One to sell it, the other to destroy it—and Rune.
Either’s success means the end of true magic.
Thrown together by peril, the defiant acolyte and the broken warrior uncover secrets and emotions they never expected.
Both must confront the ultimate question: who will they choose to protect—the book or each other?
