Steel City, Veiled Kingdom, Part 2: Going Underground

Jerimin Icarii is one button press away from everything he ever wanted.Before the judges of the galaxy's most prestigious scientific institute, he places a rabbit on a miniature teleportal. His invention could transform civilization. His notes are written on napkins.Of course they are.Jerimin presses the button. At the second teleportal, the rabbit yawns. The room explodes in disbelief.Jerimin has not impressed the scientific establishment. He has terrified it.His rivals see their careers collapsing. The institute sees a genius it can no longer ignore. And the men who know the truth about Jerimin's past see him becoming much too famous to hide.The institute wants what Jerimin can do. It does not want Jerimin. Still, it grudgingly opens its doors.At last, Jerimin is getting everything he wanted. It feels nothing like being wanted.So Jerimin goes home. Not to the shining steel city.Underground.There, the Queen waits in her true shape: enormous, skull-faced, four-eyed, monstrous. And she is furious that anyone would dare diminish Jerimin's victory.The monster beneath the mountain makes him feel like he belongs. He fills their library with the books he loves most. She becomes the person he returns to after every triumph and humiliation.The higher Jerimin climbs, the more he needs the monster below. Somewhere along the way, they dare to call each other friends.But their friendship began with a bargain. The Queen erased Jerimin's past and made his impossible future possible. Now she reminds him:"e;You will earn what has been given."e;What she asks of him grows stranger. Darker. More dangerous.She tells him what to do. She never tells him why.But how can Jerimin refuse the only person who has ever made him feel wanted?Every victory makes Jerimin harder to hide. Every act of loyalty carries him deeper into plans he cannot see.And the Queen has secrets of her own.STEEL CITY, VEILED KINGDOM, PART 2: GOING UNDERGROUND continues a maximalist science-fantasy odyssey of a genius the world doesn't want, a monster who does, and success with teeth.You'll cheer when Jerimin proves them wrong—and dread what his victory has set in motion.Want the whole story? Get the Complete Edition.