Magic will get you killed. If its practice doesn't cause you to spontaneously combust, then the Department of Public Protection will happily oblige, igniting you in a "safe and predictable" manner in a place that endangers nobody. When alchemist Alexander Hancock was commissioned by a suffragette journalist named Isadore Moorcock to help find her father, his answer was no. Risk his life looking for a journalist who'd gone missing while researching a Magic Cult? He had better things to do than that... well... not really... but his answer was still no. That was until he found himself on a train...

A Prince of the Regency from the Stronghold at Aladazi should never fall in love with a darkland woman. That would be shameful. The stronghold has protected the Darklanders for generations, but the price of this protection is shameful, the use of the young women of the village. Now a Prince of the Regency is torn between love for his 'Darklander plaything' and his family honour. And then there's the dangers from the Empire to the south, Plainsmen from the east and a mysterious darkness from the north. (Although this work contains no adult content, it has some adult themes.)