An ambitious alchemist must uncover her university's dark secrets while trying to escape her mysterious past in this electrifying and atmospheric debut.

'A triumph of a debut.'
CHLOE GONG, NO. 1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF IMMORTAL LONGINGS

'In a word, extraordinary.'
BRIGITTE KNIGHTLEY, NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE IRRESISTIBLE URGE TO FALL FOR YOUR ENEMY

When Larkspur Lee arrived in Paris, it was with nothing more than the ambition in her veins and the magic under her skin.

As a student of Meurdrac, one of the few remaining alchemical universities, she burns to prove herself; she must fight twice as hard - and be twice as cunning - if she wants to be considered worthy of immortality.

But after the shocking death of the university's headmistress, the immortal Petronelle Flamel, she instead finds herself at the heart of an impossible crime - one where the only evidence whispers of Lark's past. Matters are further complicated when the mentor she crossed an ocean to escape re-enters her life, enticing her to his side once again while secretly wielding an agenda of his own.

As the mysterious investigator assigned to the case, Violaine, becomes convinced that more sinister works are responsible for the murder, Lark must wrestle with both the university's dark secrets and her own as the life she's meticulously built for herself begins to unravel.

And as everything around her delves into chaos, Lark has no choice but to decide if the power she desires is truly worth the price.