Bravira Vicinage crawled through the narrow, intertwining tunnels of the eastern mines, the damp earth pressing in on her. She finally emerged into a cavern at the bottom, and immediately set to work, attending to the colossal ventilation furnace, feeding the hungry fire to maintain the updraft. It was grueling labor, and though she now led a team of diggers, the sheer responsibility was too great to entrust to anyone else.

  Back in the iron mines closer to the city, life had been simpler. Mechanical Gnome-Diggers had done all the heavy lifting, their steam-powered drills making quick work of the ore. Perhaps too quick. The city’s iron mine was utterly exhausted, its veins bled dry. A few brave miners had, out of sheer desperation, ventured across the treacherous desert to these distant eastern mines. And they had hit the jackpot. But here, there was no iron. There was something infinitely more valuable: Ether.

  Bravira remembered the first time she saw it—a glowing, purple vein pulsating in the rock. She remembered the sheer, almost frantic excitement of her partner, Chiara Tanzanight, when Bravira brought back a sample. Chiara had declared this substance would change everything, and soon after, almost every Tanzanight sister would visit the mines, holding hushed family meetings that pointedly excluded Bravira. But Bravira knew, with a certainty that burned within her, that they needed her. The Gnome-Diggers malfunctioned, their intricate mechanisms seizing up around the Ether’s strange aura, forcing every ounce of work to be done by hand.

  Bravira’s crew included Mindy, a hardworking, sisterless girl desperate for coin. Her team also boasted a mysterious new recruit, a girl Bravira suspected had given a false name. She looked familiar, too, as if Bravira had glimpsed her once at a noble family ball. But Bravira was in desperate need of help, and besides, this new girl possessed the same spark of untamed adventure in her eyes that Bravira herself did. Who was she to question motives when a pickaxe was needed?

  Bravira returned to the rest of her team. Mindy was giggling with joy, her hands cupped, presenting Bravira with three nuggets of raw Ether. They were breathtaking. Bravira picked one up; even in the dim candlelight, the rock shimmered with an inner luminescence, radiating a profound sense of power. Bravira wondered if one of the Torqueburn sisters could forge Ether into an enchanted pickaxe to aid their grueling digging. A few years ago, the Torqueburns would have been eager to help, but lately, relations between their families had drifted. Also, the Tanzanights viewed the Torqueburns as little more than loyal pets of the Petalcrests and so wouldn’t want them to get their hands on the ether.

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  “Stay here,” Bravira instructed. “I’m going to show one of these to Chiara. And well done, Mindy, this is excellent work.” Bravira tucked one nugget into her pocket, then hesitated. Should she leave the other two pieces with her crew? She could trust them, couldn’t she? The thought gnawed at her, a subtle worm of unease, throughout her climb out of the mine and her walk to Chiara’s lab.

  She took the ether out her pocket and just before she knocked, voices drifted from behind the door. Another Tanzanight family meeting. Bravira decided to wait, not wanting to disturb them, but she found herself unable to block out their words.

  “Zalika, you are naive if you think the Petalcrests would allow for a peaceful transfer of power. No, we have to fight for control, and we must fight now, while we have the element of surprise.” The voice was sharp, urgent.

  “Control yourself, Aziza,” came a calmer, more measured tone. “We need patience if we are to be blessed with victory.”

  “I agree with Zalika,” a third voice chimed in. “A war will not benefit us. We need more support from the other families. That way, the Petalcrests will be pressured into surrendering. This is the best way.”

  “Oh, my gosh, Nia, you are just as naive as Zalika!” Aziza’s voice rose, barely contained. “Gaining support from everyone will take years! We have the power of Ether on our side; victory doesn’t depend on patience, it depends on seizing the opportunity!”

  “Chiara, what are your thoughts?”

  Chiara’s voice, clear and precise, cut through the debate: “I think there is someone listening at the door.”

  A shockwave of pure fear pulsed through Bravira’s body. Flight instinct took over. She ran, still clutching the Ether nugget in her hand. Its power surged through her, infusing her with an unnatural speed. She found herself running faster than ever before. She leaped, testing the newfound energy, and it did not disappoint; never had she risen so high and her landing was soft and graceful. Scrambling, she slipped back into the mine tunnels. They hadn’t seen her. Perhaps she could blame it on Mindy, but what sort of trouble would she be leading her into.

  If war was truly on the horizon, she had to warn the rest of her family. Whose side would the Vicinages take? After experiencing the raw power of Ether, she would argue they had to align with the Tanzanights. Electra would agree, but Nikola… Nikola always had counterpoints.

  Bravira returned to her team. Mindy was in tears, her face streaked with grime. “What’s wrong?” Bravira asked, her voice softened by alarm.

  Mindy choked out words through her sobs. “She said… she was leaving. And that we might never see each other again. I really liked her, she was my friend.”

  Bravira embraced Mindy, sending a wave of comfort washing over her. She was now Mindy’s only friend, and to think she had considered blaming her to cover her own tracks… Bravira’s heart softened. She was better than that. But her moment of self-reflection shattered as the implications of Mindy’s words truly registered.

  “Mindy,” Bravira demanded, pulling back, her voice suddenly sharp with cold dread. “Where is the rest of the Ether?”