To be Skint is to suffer. but I refuse to be broken. Orphaned and on the run, Bren Waters arrives at the prestigious Ambeni University on one of their few shipbuilding scholarships-only to find sneering elite waiting. Skint are the poor of the Alliance, little better than serfs beneath the Great Houses who claim Earth-like worlds as their own. Bren's plan is simple: build a ship, get out, and never look back. But for Skint, effort does not always equal success, and a scholarship can be taken away as quickly as it was granted. Savvy Stu makes for a protective and sympathetic roommate, but even discovering a revolutionary way to manipulate gravity can't rid Bren of harassment and persecution. Just when Bren's ambitions are within reach, a business ally turned friend stirs long-dormant desires.

And finding unexpected friendship and love makes leaving harder than ever. When freedom finally beckons, will it be what Bren hoped? An epic dystopian romantic space opera set in a House-ruled galaxy, where a scarred orphan battles for love and survival in a system designed to crush the poor.