For centuries, the Academy of Varethia has trained the heirs of the Six Great Families—vampires, fae, wolves, sirens, medusae, and dragon riders—to master their power and preserve the fragile peace between their kingdoms. Eirea Vaelith has spent her entire life preparing to survive its halls. She never expected her first year to become a fight to survive them. From the moment she arrives, something beneath Varethia seems to stir. Ancient wards falter. Students disappear without a trace. Dragons grow restless. And whatever is happening inside Varethia seems to keep pulling Eirea into its path. Her search for answers brings her dangerously close to Rhyven Corvell, a third-year Chief Wings Officer and one of the Academy’s most formidable dragon riders. Blunt, infuriating, and impossible to intimidate, Rhyven has secrets of his own—and far too many reasons to tell Eirea to stop asking questions. Because something is hunting beyond the Academy’s wards. Something Varethia was built to keep out. And as Eirea, Rhyven and their friends are drawn deeper into secrets their families have kept buried for generations, one truth becomes impossible to ignore: What if the Academy isn’t protecting them from the truth? What if it’s protecting the truth from them?