Assassinate is a short story written by Priest, part of Machine Fantasy – A Dream of Steampunk (机械幻想 – 蒸汽朋克之梦), a steampunk anthology published in 2015.
Set in a fictional London, at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, Edward Lander’s name was both renowned and hated by the empire, which needed his groundbreaking intelligence, and by the anti-science organizations who detested such unnatural progress. While the empire expended its effort in protecting him and the anti-science organizations set assassins after him, Edward Lander only wished for his unspeakable feelings to reach the object of his affection.