Allen sets out on an overdue trip home to the eastern capital—not just to his students’ dismay, but to his own as well. He’s been hiding his failure to become a court sorcerer from his parents, so despite his sister’s assurances, he finds himself dreading their reunion. Family problems are far from the only troubles awaiting him in his hometown, however—simmering tensions between the city’s large beastfolk population and its haughty human aristocracy are about to boil over, and hard-liners on both sides take a dim view of Allen’s status as an adopted member of the wolf clan. Meanwhile, the disgraced Prince Gerard hasn’t learned from his last defeat, and his rumored rebellion threatens to pull the tutor into a deadly web of conspiracy. Will the unexpected addition of Tina, Ellie, Lynne, and (of course) Lydia be enough to see Allen through his most physically—and politically—dangerous adventure yet?

Duke Howard’s eldest daughter Stella was beginning to believe that she could live up to her family name. Despite her failure to master her family’s hereditary magic and falling out with her father, she managed to work her way to the top of her kingdom’s most prestigious academy. But after seeing her idol the Lady of the Sword in action and realizing that her once magically impaired younger sister has overtaken her in a matter of months, Stella’s newfound confidence comes crashing to the ground. Worse still, she has a gnawing suspicion that she only outranks her best friend at school thanks to racial prejudice. Allen, the gifted tutor who enabled her sister’s miraculous growth, may offer her only way out of her mounting depression. But can Stella bring herself to seek help, and can Allen give it in the face of an ever-growing list of demands for his time?

Three months have passed since the battle for the city of water. As winter nears the royal capital, Allen settles back into his old routine, tutoring the kingdom’s best and brightest while overseeing the company that bears his name—until a draconic prophecy yanks him into the cutthroat world of court politics once again. His path to curing a student’s magical ailment leads through the Sealed Archive, home to the kingdom’s most closely guarded secrets. But Allen’s old enemy, Head Court Sorcerer Gardner, holds the keys. To overcome aristocratic prejudice and fulfill the draconic prophecy, Allen will need something he’s always avoided: an official post. And as it happens, the newly minted Crown Princess Cheryl is in the market for an investigator. His first case? The deaths of another student’s parents and the plague they tried to fight eleven years ago.

Bad news stuns the southern capital: a church plot has severed contact with the city of water, leaving Allen and Lydia stranded in the middle of enemy territory and a burgeoning civil war. And no aid can reach them while the impregnable Fortress of Seven Towers stands. To help their tutor, Allen’s students will need to overcome the greatest defenses that nature and human ingenuity can create without him—and they’ll need to work fast. Lynne Leinster, for one, doesn’t know if she has it in her. Despite her tough talk, the young noblewoman feels intimidated by her friends’ brilliance. What can she do that they can’t do better? She’ll need to find her answer soon, because this crisis will demand everything that the girls have to give. And all the while, a sinister conspiracy draws nearer to its goal.

The rebellion is finally at an end, leaving Allen to recuperate with his students in the eastern capital. But neither he nor his home city have long to tend their war wounds in peace. When the unassuming tutor is awarded the title of the legendary warrior he’s long admired, he finds himself facing not only the predictable backlash from what remains of the conservative aristocracy but also a challenge from his idol’s former comrades in arms! Can he prove himself to some of the mightiest soldiers alive? Of course, Allen’s own standing is far from his only concern. His partner Lydia has mysteriously lost her magical power, while his student Stella’s is just as inexplicably growing. His friend Gil is contemplating drastic measures to atone for family crimes. The sinister Church of the Holy Spirit continues to advance its plots abroad. And in the royal capital, a new conspiracy is brewing.

With Tina and Ellie safely enrolled in the Royal Academy, Allen’s troubles seem to be behind him. But his tutoring duties are far from over, and his return to the royal capital brings him face-to-face with old friends and enemies alike. Allen’s former classmate and self-proclaimed mistress Lydia Leinster, esteemed as “the Lady of the Sword,” is far from happy that Allen won’t be joining her in the prestigious ranks of the court sorcerers; Lydia’s younger sister Lynne is upset that he has been tutoring her newfound rival Tina; and their mother, the powerful Duchess Leinster, hopes to recruit him into a mysterious new scheme. Allen’s own sister isn’t thrilled to find him keeping secrets from her either. Meanwhile, the jealous Prince Gerard is still nursing a grudge, and his factions of conservative nobles are less than pleased that a commoner like Allen is educating members of the kingdom’s most prestigious families.

Outlooks are bleak in the Duchy of Howard. The imperial army looming on its northern border dwarfs the duke’s forces, and he can’t hope for reinforcements from a capital in the hands of hard-line aristocratic rebels. Lady Stella Howard, her younger sister Tina, and Tina’s maid Ellie are beside themselves with worry over the fate of their missing tutor Allen—last seen outnumbered and surrounded in the heart of enemy territory—but rescue plans will have to wait. The girls throw themselves into the war effort, anxious to hasten the end of the conflict in any way they can. Yet even their magical talents can only do so much, especially when sinister hooded figures join the enemy ranks. While Allen’s friends and family battle for their lives, the young sorcerer has his own trials to contend with. Captured, beaten, and flung into a mysterious ruin, he finds himself forced into a confrontation with startling truths—and an adversary who can more than match his skill.