Keep your head down. Don't draw attention. Above all, don't make yourself a target. Those are the rules seventeen-year-old Ailsa lives by. It's just part of being the daughter of the disgraced ex-king and living too close to his more-than-slightly paranoid successor. Ailsa isn't the only one affected by the new king's insecurities. The mages backed her father. Now the new king's repressive policies drive the mages out of the kingdom--and with them the magic that her desert country desperately needs to survive. Ailsa sets out to study magic so she can help keep Far Terra green. Her plans are nearly upset when her oldest friend, Crown Prince Savyon, proposes. Marrying him would mean giving up her magic. Her family history proves that the barons will never accept a mage as queen. A year of training won't make her a mage-unless she has insanely powerful magic. And there's been no sign of that. But at least she'll know what she'd be giving up before she makes a decision. A magic-tinted kiss from Jathan, her cheerfully annoying study partner, makes her question what she really feels for Savyon. She and Jathan could do great things together--except that he never wants to go near the desert. Are magic and love forever mutually exclusive for Ailsa?