Tacking the Luminous Shoals

Master sail-trimmer Rong Kexin measures her life in sail-angles, wind-shear, and the clean kick of a calibrated matchlock. She has no room in her calculations for Yan Zhenyu, the swaggering corsair gunner she hauled out of a burning enemy brig. But when a magnetic storm strands their twin-keeled cutter in the void-shoals between worlds, survival demands total harmony. Their vessel runs on lodestone powder—an explosive art that demands flawless physical sync between helm and gun-deck. In the stifling heat of the powder room, every loaded charge heightens a dangerous, electric attraction. As imperial warships close in, Kexin and Zhenyu must yield to the intoxicating rhythm of each other's touch or let their worlds drift into fire.