Previously in The Engineer’s Dilemma: Airships, Assassins, and Accidental Diplomacy
David Robertson started Book 2 with a simple plan: travel to the Royal Academy in Eldros, stay under the radar, conduct research quietly, and avoid getting involved in anything that looked like politics. Within hours, he had broken every part of that plan in ways that would impress even the most chaotic gods.
Life in the capital was supposed to be peaceful. Instead, he found himself in a royal city full of suspicious nobles, curious mages, and an academy tower that acted like a loyal dog with too many secrets. The Tower recognized him immediately, its doors opening after centuries of being sealed, and constructs waking as if they’d been waiting for him to pass by. It was flattering. It was unnerving. It was also exactly the kind of attention David did not want.
His attempt at a quiet academic life dissolved the moment he accidentally impressed the King, outsmarted the council, and, unintentionally, stole the nation’s Princess by marrying her. Theresa clung to David’s arm, stole his cookies, and showed an alarming eagerness to adopt his bad habits. Seraphina, always the calm center of their growing household, kept the palace from exploding through sheer force of will. Allira handled threats with military precision. Veronica blushed her way into the family. Aria, Marlena, and others expanded the circle until David’s evenings felt less like romance and more like a very affectionate strategic alliance.
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Amid domestic peace and royal chaos, David still managed to reshape the kingdom’s economy, train soldiers, outshine the nobles, and leave the Arch Mage speechless. Not an easy task. He enchanted weapons unintentionally, invented new shield techniques, and introduced mathematical modeling to a council that seemed personally offended by numbers.
Somewhere amidst the chaos, David realized he was now a Prince by marriage, something everyone except David had already figured out. He took the news in stride, with the same calm dignity he always showed when faced with surprises: mild confusion and another sip of tea.
The Tower kept awakening as he worked. Golems learned. Constructs adapted. One even received her first kiss. David tried to handle these interactions with grace, even as he realized he was gradually inheriting an entire forgotten civilization’s worth of technology and responsibility.
And far beyond the capital, beneath old branches and shifting stars, beings older than kingdoms began to watch. And above even them, in places where mortal eyes do not reach, the gods took notice as well. An Engineer had returned. And that changed everything.
By the end of Book 2, the airship was loaded, the engines were running, and David, the newly minted Prince, reluctant engineer, husband of many, and owner of far too much stuff, set course for Vaelthorn, blissfully unaware that an entirely new kind of trouble was already searching for him.
He wanted a quiet life. The world keeps blocking him at every turn.
