In the prestigious Academy Trianon, unwanted children are trained to become specialized guards to the upper classes—the swersoldi. Swersoldi learn martial skills, courtly manners, and the use of aer, the force inside all living things. At twenty, Rafi is nearing his final year, and expects an unremarkable future once he secures a placement in a decent noble house. But he’s facing a problem—his approaching heat. All three sexes, miná, miné, and nex, experience heats or ruts at the onset of sexual maturity, even though dual-sex nexes like Rafi aren’t capable of reproduction. If Rafi’s use of aer weren’t so strong, such a heat would be embarrassing but bearable. But since he’s not yet fully able to control his aer, he will need someone stronger than he is to control his for him. Rafi has no sweetheart, and even if he did, no one currently at the academy has that sort of strength. Enter Viau, the favorite swersoldi of the royal court: handsome, courteous, honorable—the ideal. As far as Rafi is concerned, Viau is unapproachable and untouchable, so he sees no problem in admitting to his worried instructors that Viau’s scent is perfect to his nex senses. Heroic, mannerly Viau will politely decline to be involved, and Rafi can hopefully figure out a less humiliating option in the meantime. Except Viau says yes. Unwanted, unremarkable Rafi is suddenly the center of the ideal’s attention, a confusing, arousing place to be. Viau treats Rafi as if there is more to him than an average swersoldi with an average future, and Rafi starts to wonder if he can have a different life if he reaches for it. One where the ideal was once an unwanted child too, and even an ordinary nex can become the ideal’s hero if he loves him.
