A Quota of Blood

The Great War over three hundred years ago was so terrible, the Archmages decreed that each city would only be allowed a certain number of mages. So twenty-one-year-old Arden Solis is understandably ecstatic when he hears the quota has been amended to allow for ten new Apprentices. But the life of a blood mage isn’t easy. Arden has more at stake than the others: If he doesn’t ascend, he might never see his father. After joining the mages, he finds his first two instructors to be harsh, even cruel. What makes matters worse, blood mages keep vanishing around him. Are they being kidnapped because their blood can heal, an ability other mages covet, or is there something else going on? Why was the quota changed in the first place?