In the latest novel from the author of Lady of Magick , Sophie and Gray Marshall must save the Kingdom of Britain from a tide of dark magic...   Three years after taking up residence at the University of Din Edin, Sophie and Gray return to London, escorting Lucia MacNeill, heiress of Alba, to meet the British prince to whom she is betrothed. Alas, sparks fail to fly between the pragmatic Lucia and the romantic Prince Roland, and the marriage alliance seems to be on shaky ground.   Sophie tries to spark a connection between Roland and Lucia by enlisting them both in her latest scheme: reopening the mysterious and long-shuttered women’s college at Oxford. Though a vocal contingent believes that educating women spells ruin, Sophie and her friends dream of rebuilding the college for a new generation of women scholars.   But the future of the college—and of the kingdom—are imperiled when the men who tried to poison King Henry escape from prison and vanish without a trace. Sophie and Gray will need all their strength and ingenuity—and the help of friends both present and long past—to thwart the enemy at Britain’s gates. Praise for the Noctis Magicæ Novels   “A provocative series.”—SFFWorld.com   “Elegantly written, fast-paced, and highly original.”—Juliet Marillier, national bestselling author   “The history of her world is not the usual stuff.”—Marie Brennan, author of the Memoirs of Lady Trent   “Intriguing fantasy.”— Library Journal   “[Hunter’s] magical version of Britain is both innovative and intriguing. The plot is creative and suspenseful—and never predictable.”— RT Book Reviews Sylvia Izzo Hunter is the author of the Noctis Magicae novels, including Lady of Magick and The Midnight Queen . When not writing, she works in scholarly journal publishing, sings in two choirs, reads as much as possible, knits hats, and engages in experimental baking. Chapter I In Which Sophie and Gray Depart on a Journey, and Gwendolen Loses a Wager “Well, Magistra?” said Gray. The small flock of new graduates broke apart, smiling and laughing, and Sophie Marshall emerged from it to look up at her husband. He was beaming all over his kind, honest face, and when she stepped towards him, holding out her hand for him to shake by way of congratulation—for they had not met since before the day’s long ceremonials—he laughed aloud and swept her into a fierce, albeit chaste, embrace. Sophie’s friends hooted and applauded. “Where next?” Gray said, when Sophie had her feet under her once more. “Have you some grand festivity to attend, Magistra, to which I may escort you?” Sophie tilted her head, laughing up at him, and—trusting to the confusion of motion and noise that surrounded them—said, “I had hoped that a handsome Doctor of Practical Magick might give me his arm as far as Quarry Close. And after that . . .” Astonishing, she thought, with an inward grin, that being nearly six years married, she still could make him blush. “Sophie!” cried a voice behind her. “Gray!” Sophie turned on her heel to find her friends (and Gray’s ­colleagues) Mór MacRury, Rory MacCrimmon, and Sorcha Mac­Angus, together with Lucia MacNeill—it was she who had been calling them—elbowing their way through the crowd. A new round of back-slapping and embracing ensued, after which Mór said brightly, “We shall see you both at the bonfire this evening, I hope?” Sophie and Gray exchanged a lingering glance; Sophie, for her part, was calculating the hours remaining until dusk, and finding the number sufficient. “Of course,” she said, turning a general smile upon her friends. “We should not dream of missing it.” Then she caught Gray’s right hand in her left, and they began making their farewells. The succeeding fortnight was lost to a mad welter of preparations for departure. In May, Lucia MacNeill—heiress to the chieftain’s seat of Alba, and, if all unfolded as planned, soon to be Sophie’s sister-in-law—was to journey to London to meet her future husband and the rest of Britain’s royal family. Gray and Sophie, in her capacity as Princess Royal, were to travel south as part of Lucia’s retinue, and there remain until after her marriage to Prince Roland, so that Sophie might serve her friend as guide and interpreter of London society. It was not, in truth, a prospect which Sophie greatly relished; not only was she, in her own estimation, very ill equipped to be anyone’s guide to that circle of society in which Lucia MacNeill must be expected to move, but the task must bring her into prolonged and frequent contact with her stepmother, Queen Edwina, a circumstance unlikely to occasion joy to either. Lucia was her friend, however, and might very well have need of a sympathetic ear in the course of her sojourn in Britain. And of course she wished very much to see her sister Joanna, and Gray’s sister Jenny, and Jenny’s growing family. The Marshalls’ immediate plans, in any case, had thus been determined for them; but it remain