Crystal Cage

By Reis Asher

Alyssa's father wants her to settle down and become a happy wife and mother, as befitting a woman from one of the noble Houses, but Alyssa has other ideas: she wants to be an inventor. Her first invention, the crystal-powered teacup warmer, has earned her an invitation to study at the Institute and she accepts, hoping to meet her personal heroine Lady Isabelle and to be herself outside the confines of her rigid upbringing.

Left disappointed when Lady Isabelle proves to be dismissive, Alyssa is soon captivated anew by Prince Artan, who hides a secret himself and teaches Alyssa far more than the technology she's come to study. But relationships between teachers and students are forbidden by the Institute, and they aren't the only ones who will suffer should they get caught.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Reis Asher
• Release date: Sep 24, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393328308

Book preview

Crystal Cage

REIS ASHER

Alyssa's father wants her to settle down and become a happy wife and mother, as befitting a woman from one of the noble Houses, but Alyssa has other ideas: she wants to be an inventor. Her first invention, the crystal-powered teacup warmer, has earned her an invitation to study at the Institute and she accepts, hoping to meet her personal heroine Lady Isabelle and to be herself outside the confines of her rigid upbringing.

Left disappointed when Lady Isabelle proves to be dismissive, Alyssa is soon captivated anew by Prince Artan, who hides a secret himself and teaches Alyssa far more than the technology she's come to study. But relationships between teachers and students are forbidden by the Institute, and they aren't the only ones who will suffer should they get caught.

Crystal Cage

By Reis Asher

All rights reserved.  No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission of the publisher, except for the purpose of reviews.

Edited by Tracey Pennington

Cover designed by Aisha Akeju

This book is a work of fiction and all names, characters, places, and incidents are fictional or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual people, places, or events is coincidental.

Second Edition September 2019

Copyright © 2019 by Reis Asher

Printed in the United States of America

I would like to thank everyone at Less Than Three Press for bringing The Crystal Cage to fruition, especially my editor Tracey, whose brilliant insight helped me build a better story. Many thanks also to Aisha for the amazing cover art.

Crystal Cage

The Institute loomed before me like a veritable palace, its gardens lush and green, hydrangeas and violets in vibrant bloom adorning neatly dug flowerbeds. I passed through great cast iron gates with haste, the driver directing the carriage at my command. Gravel crunched beneath the horses' hooves and the carriage bumped slightly as it drew to a halt.

I inhaled deeply, suddenly self-conscious about my mode of dress. My overalls were clean but hardly the kind of attire I should attend the Institute in. Father had been right when he said I should wear a dress, but the frilly pink monstrosity the servants of our house pulled from the garderobe almost made me weep in horror. In my defense, I had tried to don the gown, only to feel like a stranger in my own body. The mirror reflected an unfamiliar face back at me and I recoiled, finding the lie I'd borne in silence for years too much to endure any longer.

I tore the dress off and grabbed my overalls as my maid protested, her offense a shrill discord in my ear. My undershirt fit like a glove, my pants following soon after, followed by the loose overalls. The faint scent of grease lingered in the air, and it smelled like home, a far cry from the eye-watering perfumes Father had chosen for the occasion. I grabbed my goggles and fled from the house before he could inspect me, pressing an extra twopenny piece into the coachman's hand to make haste from the grounds. I tied my hair into a neat bun with my own hands, long used to doing things for myself without the brood of maids who wanted to make me a 'proper' lady.

I couldn't do it. I couldn't be the high society lady Father wanted me to be. That's why I was at the Institute in the first place—trying to maintain some sense of honor for our house. It was clear to see that I wasn't going to be a good wife, and so the only hope I could have of avoiding shame on our family name was to enter the realm of academia. I had applied to the Institute, sending them a small invention I had been working on: a heated cup that used crystal power to keep tea at its proper temperature. The crystal mines had seen an unprecedented yield over the past few years, and now a resource that was once rare and expensive was falling into the hands of common folk. It opened a whole new world of invention for me, and that was when I knew I couldn't deceive others any longer if I wanted to be happy.

I was not a lady, a mother, or a wife. I was an inventor, my only children the ideas that took form and shape in mechanisms that improved the lives of ordinary