As a mage apprentice from a powerful Serving Family, Linden is supposed to have her act together. After all, her father is a war hero and her mother is the provincial governor. Linden, on the other hand, is failing every subject in school. After Linden's school and home are severely damaged during a border raid, her parents decide to send her to the capital to live with her grandmother, who is focused on one thing: turning Linden into a proper Serving Mage. Ignoring the war talk swirling about the capital, Linden forms an unlikely friendship with Stryker, her brother's best friend-who also happens to be the unluckiest cadet at the Royal Marine Academy. Meanwhile, Linden learns there may be more than one reason for the attack on Victorica, and the raiders may be personally hunting her and her family. Faced with the opportunity to evacuate from the capital, she must decide whether to flee to safety or fight back and master Serving Magic along the way.