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In the Ashen Empire, steam is life — and the Crown Boilerworks rations every breath of it. Rich districts burn bright. Poor districts run on a trickle, and down in the boiler pits, stokers like sixteen-year-old Wren Callan shovel coal to keep the pressure up. On a deep shift, in a sealed level that officially doesn't exist, Wren finds a wrecked engine that does the impossible: it makes full steam from plain seawater. Free steam. No vents. No ration. The one thing that could break the Crown's mon