Synopsis

A fantasy tale of schoolgirls, smugglers, alchemists, pirates, queer attack, bellwitches, ancient necromancy, gender outlaws, fascists, smoldering romance, trans sisterhood, intrigue, smut, spies, knife girls, mysterious resonances, herbalists, spirit magic, loyalties put to the test, and some other stuff...
Eli—or Ellie, as she would like to be called, someday—is a young alchemy student from a bleak border town of a fascist empire. When she realizes that the socially sanitized alchemy being taught to her at University could be jailbroken and made to serve more subversive purposes, she faces a choice between safety and her own embodiment.
Like every child of Opali, Mila chose her gender. City of bells, pirates and rebels, Opali stands beyond the Imperiat’s reach and in defiance of its control. Stigmatized for a violation committed by her father, Mila nurtures a broken dream that will lead her to the very gates of her people's ancient enemy in search of what she needs.
For as long as she can remember, Roxa has been training to be a secret operative and sworn blade of the Duchy of Waterfalls, a mountain fastness to the north of the Imperiat. Her mother, the Countess Monir, renown as a sorcerer and a diplomat without peer, has just accepted a post in the Imperial Capital, and Roxa sees an opportunity to finally escape her mother’s shadow and choose her own path—if war and treachery don't fuck it up for her, first.
By day, Aralia Cordivar is a technocrat, alchemist, and University researcher without peer. By night she plays the game of masks and knives. If she can keep the secrets of her past buried just a little longer, she may be able to finally achieve her agenda.
All their paths and wits and secrets and lies will intertwine at Harmine University, deep within the Imperiat, where the powerful prey on the vulnerable and loyalties are traded like coin.
[This story contains sexual content and is meant only for those who are 18 or older.]
[This story is a trans story. It is also a lesbian romance story with (mostly but not only) lesbian smut and sexual content. The sexual content is absent from most of the first twelve chapters and then picks up very abruptly after that. Themes that run through this story, including some of the sexual content, are: power exchange, sex across a power differential, ambiguous consent or ambiguous ability to consent, and other such ethically dicey situationships. If that isn’t something you are comfortable with, this story may not be for you. I will put content warnings at the beginnings of chapters.]
[Anyway, this story has been so much fun to write and I hope you enjoy reading it. I was heavily influenced and inspired by amazing trans author Casey Plett and the queer fantasy marvel that is The Traitor Baru Cormorant, by Seth Dickinson. I highly recommend both.]