A year ago, Vesta Bartlett received a rather unusual assignment.
Now, as if perfecting her clockwork puppies for Queen Victoria weren't enough, a surprise invitation to present them to the Texas Republic president makes Vesta question a number of things, including will the president accept the clockwork from a woman? Unsure, she agrees to allow Henry to go along, as her spokesman and husband, regardless of how her father may feel about a fake marriage.
But they have bigger problems than her father's anger when an anti-alchemist group takes issue with her clockwork creations and decide they need to stop Vesta's work. By any means, no matter how violent.