Magic Study

Yelena Zaltana spent a year as the Commander's food taster in Ixia, and she has come out of it with freedom, love and a power she never expected: magic. Ixia forbids magic, and an order for her execution is out, so she has to leave.

She goes back to Sitia, the homeland she barely remembers, to learn control at the Magicians' Academy. Sitia offers no easy refuge. Her birth family, strangers until now, includes an older brother who suspects she is an Ixian spy.

A Council also has to rule on whether a girl with her power can be trusted. Her place in the country is far from settled, and every decision about her training rests with people who have reason to doubt her.

Then a killer starts to target magic users close to her, and a scheme to seat a pretender on Ixia's throne begins to form. Two countries tug at Yelena, and so do the people she cares for in each. What she discovers about her own gift will alter how she sees both. This is the second book in the Study series, after Poison Study and before Fire Study.