“All done, Master Cinder.” I wiped my forehead with the back of my hand while I slid out from under the machine I was working on. I lifted my arm to him.

“You sure, Yuriena?” The muscular older man with short white hair and purple eyes leaned down. He grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet. He inspected the machine I worked on as he kept hemming and hawing at the gears.

“No, but I won’t know what to fix until I test it out.”

“That’s my girl.”

I cleaned the oil and grease from my hands onto the towel at my waist. “Well?”

He pulled a screwdriver from his tool belt and fiddled with something. “All right, wind ‘er up.”

I grinned and walked to the back of the machine. The mechanical creature stood hip-high with clawed front feet and stumped back feet. It had a tail for balance, and plate armor covered the entire body. I lifted one of the back plates, pulled off the key from around my neck, and wound it up. Once the spring was as tight as it could go, I removed the key and replaced it around my neck. The machine did not move.

“Why’s it not working?” Master Cinder asked when I came back to the front of the creature.

“The on button is up here.” I touched the nose of the machine, and its eyes opened. It sniffed the air and pretended to dig into the ground. Then it mimicked scratching its face. I squealed in delight. “It’s so cute!”

The door to the engineering workshop opened. “I know you are back here, Princess Yuriena.” My handler Lady-in-Waiting, Clarrias, strode into the cavernous room. Her heels clicked with every step until she reached me. “You are filthy!” she admonished. Her brown hair was impeccably coifed, and her dark purple dress tailored to her curvy figure without flaw. If anything, everything about her was the essence of perfection. She placed her hand on her hip and stared at the machine. “I thought you were making a rabbit.”

The mechanical creature fell over when it tried to dig at the ground again. “Damn.”

Master Cinder laughed heartily. “You can’t always make them right the first time.”

I stuck my tongue out at him. “I know, but I was hoping this one would be different than the others.”

Clarrias whacked me in the shoulder with her fan. She flicked it open and hid the bottom half of her face. “Princesses should not stick their tongues out at people.”

I stuck my tongue out at her too.

She hit me again. “We need to get you cleaned up for your lessons. Today, you are studying languages, though General Cadmus wants to discuss your continued education in war tactics.” She closed her fan. “I do not understand why you keep up with the unladylike arts such as the martial.”

I sighed, thinking of why I came into the engineering workshop in the first place. “Clarrias, what’s the point?” I dug my foot into the smooth tiles.

Both she and Master Cinder looked at me.

“The point is that you are the Princess of our Empire, and you need to learn to—”

I cut her off. “I mean, what’s the point of trying?”

She was about to answer again, but Master Cinder put his hand up to stop her. He crossed his arms over his chest. “Why not try?”

I looked up at him, my eyes watering with tears. “Mother and Father will never see me as more than just a nuisance. Why do you think they sent me to military school when I was barely old enough to walk? I can fix machines, I can fight, and I can speak almost every language of the Empire, and even some outside of it.”

“What you’re saying is that you have a natural talent for engineering, you can survive a scuffle, and you’re better prepared for diplomacy talks than any of your five brothers,” Master Cinder restated what he believed I meant. “What’s really bothering you?”

“I just wanted for this to work so I could show Mother and Father that I’m not a failure. My brothers go out and do huge things. They leave the Empire’s Capital City to work, play, and expand the Empire’s influence.” I looked at my hands, still seeing the oil and grease that refused to wash from my skin. “I’m only a Captain in our military, and I can’t even make my machine work right. Maybe then they would see me for the accomplishments I can do versus their expectations of me.”

“You’re sixteen, Yuriena; you’re not supposed to be perfect yet.”

“It’s just that…” I could not figure out how to explain my emotions.

The doors to the engineering workshop swing open. A gentleman dressed in hardened leather and black strode into the room. His distinctive black hair was tied back, and his ice white eyes held a confidence I wished I had.

I sprung to my salute. “Morning, General.”

He returned it. “Good morning, Captain.” He glanced at the clock on the wall. “You should be in your studies, Princess.”

I winced. Only he and Master Cinder could make me feel like a child. “I was working on…” My gaze fell to my mechanical creature. “And I lost track of time.”

He walked over to it, but I stepped between him and the machine. He moved me to the side. “Let me look, Captain.”

I wanted nothing more than to sink into the ground while he inspected the creature. He opened the side panel and almost put his hand inside, but I stopped him. “Wait!” I pressed the button on the creature’s nose. “It should be safe now.”

The General just gave me a curt nod, then stuck his hand into the side of the machine. “This is intricate work, Captain.”

I could not stop myself from smiling at the praise. He rarely gave it unless it was something he thought was extraordinary. “Thank you, General.”

“Why did it fail?” He closed the hatch and stepped back.

“It dropped forward,” I admitted. “It was fine until it decided to move forward to dig, then it fell on its face.”

He walked to the back and tapped on the tail of the creature. “Where is your counterweight?” He went to the front. “You put something heavier in the head, so you need to have a second weight in the tail to balance it out.”

I blinked. The answer was so simple, yet I completely forgot about the counterbalance. “How did I not think of that?” I glared at Master Cinder. “You knew why it didn’t work.”

He nodded. “Aye, lass, but how can you learn if I give you the answers?”

I wanted to punch him, but I knew better than to do anything rash while the General was around.

The General popped the head compartment open and marveled at the gears that would wind and unwind a strip of clear film. “What is going on in here?”

I walked over with Master Cinder. “Well, the creature has glass for eyes, light passes through them, and lands on this film while in the darkened area right here.” I pointed to a part covered in thick black canvas. “It records what the creature sees when the button under the chin is pressed.” I knelt down and showed them. I pressed the jaw and the gears whirled, and the film moved along. After a few seconds, I turned it off and removed that part of the film. “Then, when you hold it up to the light…” I handed the film strip to them, and they held it up to the light.

“This is amazing, Yuriena. I didn’t think you had something like that in here.” Master Cinder ruffled my hair with his oil covered hand.

“It was something that I saw in an Erosian book in the Library. Though those were done originally using crystals as a light source.”

The two men stopped and froze.

General Cadmus handed the film strip back. “Captain Yuriena, using magic is forbidden in Xailogary. Erosian’s mixture of magic and technology is what destroyed their civilization.”

I looked at the ground. “I know, so when I saw the original, I found another book that showed how to insert a light source, so that’s what I used instead.”

“Smart girl.” Master Cinder nodded. “It was good of you to see the danger and adapt with something better.”

“When did you learn Erosian?” the General asked.

I scuffed the ground with my shoe. “I learned it a while ago, but since it’s a forbidden language, I didn’t tell anyone. There was a man who came through who had a translate bible. I worked on learning it until I actually understood that it was Erosian. I just never forgot it.”

The two men looked at each other, and I wondered what was going on between them.

General Cadmus’s attention went to another project, one covered in a heavy sheet. He walked over to it and lifted the blanket. “What is this?”

Master Cinder and I hesitated in answering him. Master Cinder stepped up next to the General and flipped the sheet completely off the contraption. “It’s a Directed Energy Cannon. It was a pet project of mine after we found the energy core in an Eros ruin, but I stopped working on it when I started training Yuriena.”

The General looked back at me. “Why would you stop when she is your apprentice, and she would benefit from helping you?”

Master Cinder grabbed the back of his neck with his hand, apparent that he never wanted to have this conversation. “When Yuriena was younger, we did try to work on it. For the energy source we looked into plasma, but one day, one of the servant girls stepped in front of it while we were testing. The girl didn’t survive, and Yuriena cried every time she saw the Cannon.”

I shook where I stood, remembering every detail of that day. The girl was not much older than me. Her hair was a pretty pink color and her eyes were a pale green. The thing that struck out to me the most was the smell of her skin and hair when it burned. I still could not stand the sight of blood or the smell of something burning.

The General’s face softened as he covered the Cannon. He walked back to me and placed his hands on my shoulders. “That is why you avoided any conflict where we needed to kill people.” I nodded, even though I did not need to. “If you are finished here, do you have any time to spare?” General Cadmus asked.

I looked at Clarrias and almost begged that she would allow me to escape for a little while. Any time the General needed my time, it was for a sparring session, and I had emotions to work through.

Clarrias sighed. “I will give you half an hour to sweat your eyes out.”

I did a little jump in joy, but a single look from the General stopped my feet from leaving the ground. I cleared my throat and gave Clarrias a mock-curtsy. “Thank you for allowing me a reprieve from my studies.”

She snapped her fan shut. “Now, if you go, we will make up the time working on your language skills later.”

That would not dissuade me from fighting. The General raised his arm to escort me. I looked at the oil and grease that covered my skin and clothes. “I don’t want to get you mucked up.”

He grabbed my hand and placed it on his arm. “Nonsense.”

He walked me out of the large engineering workshop and towards the sparring area. “There is something wrong.”

I hated that he was able to tell. “It shouldn’t bother you, General.”

He stopped us and looked up and down the hallway. “Do you want me to address you as my Captain or as the Princess of the Empire?”

“How about as Yuriena?” There was too much tied up in titles for me to be open with him.

Something crossed his face, but he hid it quickly. “Tell me what is wrong.” He used his gloved hand to lift my chin to force me to meet his eyes. “I have been training you since you were three, so I can tell when it is a superficial problem or a deeper one.”

“I don’t think my family loves me.”

“Why do you believe that?”

I took a deep breath in and let it out slowly. “They refuse to see the works I make with Master Cinder. They don’t care that I’ve risen in the ranks under your command.” I finally told him the crux of my emotional turmoil, “Mother and Father are talking about marrying me off to get rid of me.”

His jaw clenched then relaxed. “You have nothing to worry about. You are a part of my military, and if they try to sell you off to another country, I will step in.”

Relief filled me. As long as I could stay where I was, working on my machines and working under the General, I would be good. I promised myself that I would build my family with these people, if Father and Mother wanted nothing to do with me. I did not realize I was crying until he wiped the tear from my cheek. “Thank you, General.”

“You are one of my best officers and Captains. You care about your men, which shows me that you are worth more than your brothers. Do not forget that Master Cinder and I trust you enough that your odd colored eyes are the Master Key for our aeroships and systems.” He smiled at me. “You are the smartest and most resourceful girl I know. As long as you continue working on becoming better, the Empire will thrive.”

Something greater than joy filled me. If he truly thought that about me, then maybe I could start to believe it myself.