Yuletide

I, Braelynn Marlowe, am finally eighteen . . . and getting the hell away from the family that hates me can't happen fast enough. For once, I might look forward to Yuletide this year.

In the secret world of monsters and magic, my twin brother and I grew up knowing one day we'd get our marks and be called to our Guilds. We both prayed for the single-color elemental mark of our father's lineage to appear on our wrists . . . but only one of us got that wish.

And it sure as hell wasn't me.

I haven't known happiness since— not for holidays, birthdays . . . nothing. It's just hatred and pain.

But now, it's time to head to The Rose Guild campus— a school that can teach me to use my powers, somewhere I won't be hated. Maybe . . . I'll even be able to be happy-ish.

Until the truth of my mother's crimes comes to light, and my very existence brings about a war between covens . . . between siblings.

With my new friends, I face the darkness I never knew lurked just behind me . . . and it's all or nothing. Face the music and accept my destiny or fight it until the bitter end. Either way, it's not how I planned to spend my solstice.

No matter what I choose, though, no one is getting out of this the same as they were before.