Babel meets Powerless in this pulse-pounding, romantic YA fantasy, the first in a duology, following two thieves who con their way into a deadly naval competition at the heart of a ruthless empire.

In the slums of the Ikarian Empire, mixed-race best friends Eliza and Jules are barely scraping by. So when they see an opportunity to compete in the Fleet of Wonders, they seize it—even if they’ll have to con their way aboard under false identities.

The Fleet of Wonders will pit the nation’s brightest young minds against each other as they race to invent a weapon—one deadly enough to defend Ikaria in a brewing war. The victors will win life-changing riches . . . if they can fend off their opponents’ cut-throat attacks.

But Eliza and Jules won’t be working alone. They’ll be sailing alongside the darkly alluring heir to a factory empire; an imperious earl’s son; a sweet, bookish medical student; and a lethally magnetic aristocrat with secrets of her own. Tensions are high, and only grow higher as Eliza and Jules each become entangled in romances that put their false identities at risk.

It’s not long before they realize that chasing the gold and glory of the Fleet may mean betraying their parents’ homeland by serving the very empire that conquered it. As the competition heats up, Eliza and Jules find themselves at odds, each faced with painful questions of how far they’re willing to go to win . . . and what—or who—they’re willing to sacrifice.