A dangerous spell gone wrong forces the passionate professor of incantations to share tight quarters with her magical college's leading--and most brooding--alchemist. Despite the college's budget cuts that slashed her syllabus, Linguistics and Incantation Translation professor Maggie Linden has almost made it to the end of the spring semester. To celebrate, Maggie attends a magical masquerade on Beltane. Maybe the end-of-year frenzy explains why she kissed a masked stranger at the festival, though her celebration may have come too soon. An accident in the lab of famous (and famously broody) alchemist Arthur Taliesin sets loose a dangerous, haunting magic called a pall that renders the nicer parts of their academic building uninhabitable. Maggie is assigned to share her tiny basement office with none other than Taliesin himself. With his insufferable attitude and unfortunate good looks, Arthur makes it impossible for Maggie to concentrate on anything--her research, her students' final exams, or tracking down her mysterious Beltane suitor. She'll do anything to get Arthur out of her office, including offering to help him reverse the magic that threatens the school.

But Maggie is starting to realize her officemate may not be the conceited grump he pretends to be. In fact, much of what she thinks is true about Arthur is merely a mask.