The Fae Academy: A Tale of Magic, Rivalry, and Forbidden Love

She arrived in chains. She'll leave as a legend — or not at all.

Kaelith Thornwood never asked for the binding marks on her arms. She never asked for the power that killed a Council emissary in her family's chapel. And she certainly never asked to be dragged through the Bramblewood in iron manacles and thrown into Thornwood Academy — a gilded prison disguised as an elite fae school.

The Academy has four houses. Three want her dead. The fourth — Thorn Court — hasn't taken a student in fifty years.

When the sorting ceremony begins, the withered black rose of Thorn Court calls to her with a voice older than the Council itself: Thorn blood. Thorn name. Thorn heir. Come home.

Suddenly, Kaelith is the most dangerous student in the Academy. The fountain's mist follows her through the corridors. The ancient wards recognize her. The Combat Arena refuses to arm her — because it knows she doesn't need a weapon.

Assigned to watch her is Vaerys Duskhollow, the Night Court prefect with winter-pale hair and a family legacy steeped in the Academy's darkest secrets. He's cold. Controlled. Trained to neutralize threats with minimum necessary force. Falling for the Thorn heir was never part of the mission.

But as the Academy's lies begin to unravel — the debt that isn't real, the prophecy that demands her death, the tower full of students who've been imprisoned for fifty years — Kaelith and Vaerys must decide what they're willing to sacrifice. His family's honor. Her freedom. Their forbidden love.

Because the source of all fae magic is dying, and only a Thorn heir can set it free. The prophecy says she won't survive. But prophecies are warnings, not sentences — and Kaelith Thornwood has never been very good at doing what she's told.

The Fae Academy is the first book in a sweeping romantasy series perfect for fans of Fourth Wing, A Court of Thorns and Roses, and Zodiac Academy. Enter a world of dangerous fae, deadly trials, slow-burn romance, and a heroine who was never the underdog — she was always the threat.