Death's Handmaiden. Death's Handmaiden, #1

The Clan Worlds Alliance is the larget political body in the known galaxy. At its centre lies Shinden, home to the Clan Assembly and the Shinden Alliance School of Sorcery, probably the best educational facility of its type anywhere. Students from all over the Clan Worlds go there to study a form of magic based squarely on scientific principles. Many of them will end up in military services when they leave, but sorcery is useful for more than just war.
With a history shrouded in secrecy, Nava Ward plans to learn to use magic for more than just killing. Her goal is to live a normal life, find normal friendship, and spend six years making her considerable magical potential useful to society. But Nava is far from being a normal girl and she does not fit perfectly into Clan Worlds society. A normal life may be what she wants, but getting it is an entirely different matter.