At Xenra, the world's foremost university for studying the art of transportive painting, blending art and the arcane is commonplace. But for Ayla, a homesick immigrant, commonplace isn't good enough. Not if she wants to graduate with a lucrative patronage and afford treatment for her dying mother back home. When the school cancels her scholarship, she'll do anything to stay at Xenra - including asking her privileged rival Constantine to team up with her for a painting competition that would guarantee her tuition.

But there can only be one winner - and Ayla will have to beat Constantine in the contest’s final round. Ayla’s only hope is a mysterious canvas she finds hidden in the school-a canvas that can turn anything painted on it into reality. With the power to change the art market (and perhaps the world), it's the perfect way to stand out among her peers. But as Ayla investigates the canvas, she discovers that she's not the only one working on it.

Constantine, desperate to rejoin his aristocratic family after being disowned years ago, has found it too. They anonymously collaborate on it-and pass wordless confessions through its brushstrokes-all while butting heads on their joint project. As Ayla’s mother's condition worsens and Constantine's powerful family threatens their shot at the competition, Ayla must solve the mysteries of the canvas and secure her win, once and for all. But unraveling century-old secrets risks the very fate of her people, and Ayla and Constantine must each decide if winning is truly worth selling out this magic-and each other.

Publication

US: HarperCollins (Voyager)

UK: HarperCollins (Voyager)