Top student Aria Poppywell tutors rude first-year black mage Jade and worries his missed sessions may hurt her own standing at magic school. Then Aria suddenly begins hearing Jade’s thoughts and discovers that the insults he says aloud do not match the unexpectedly affectionate reactions in his head. The new ability turns an irritating tutoring assignment into a relationship where Aria knows far more about Jade’s hidden feelings than he realizes.