Steam wedding

Year: 1778

The war was won, but the world was still a powder keg.

America breathed free. Spain—Britain’s old rival—watched with hungry eyes.

And into this fragile peace stepped Princess Isabella María de Borja y Aragón, heir to the Spanish throne, a woman whose beauty was matched only by her mind for machinery.

The Meeting: Havana Sky-Docks, 1777

Tony arrived in a sleek Mark IV Starkflyer, its hull painted midnight blue with gold gears. He was there to sell steam-wing tech to the Spanish Navy.

She was inspecting the docks in a gown of black lace and clockwork embroidery, a **mechanical fan** unfolding from her wrist like a steel butterfly.

Their eyes met across a hangar of hissing boilers.

Isabella: “Señor Stark. They say your armor melts redcoats. Does it melt hearts as well?”

Tony: “Only if they’re made of brass, Your Highness.”

She laughed—a sound like silver gears clicking into place.

Within an hour, they were arguing over thermodynamic efficiency in turbine design.

Within a week, Tony had redesigned her royal carriage into a steam-powered land-yacht that could outrun a frigate.

The Courtship: A Dance of Steam and Fire

Spain wanted an alliance.

America wanted Caribbean trade routes.

Tony wanted… her.

He courted her the only way he knew: with machines.

• A music box that played the Spanish anthem in steam-whistles.
• A dueling pistol that fired rose-scented vapor instead of lead.
• A necklace of micro-gears that spelled “Libertad” in Morse when near her heartbeat.

Isabella countered with gifts of her own:

• A rapier forged from Toledo steel, its hilt a miniature steam engine.
• A fan that doubled as a flamethrower** (for “unwanted suitors”).

They dueled in the skies above Havana—her in a **Spanish steam-glider**, him in the Mark III.

She won.

He proposed mid-loop-de-loop.

**Tony (helmet off, hair wild):** “Marry me, and we’ll build an empire of steam from Madrid to Manhattan.”

**Isabella (smiling, goggles fogged):** “Only if *I* get to pilot the wedding airship.”

**The Wedding: The Floating Palace**

The ceremony was held aboard **New Cádiz**, a Spanish sky-fortress the size of a cathedral, its decks plated in gold and mahogany.

Thousands watched from airships below—American revolutionaries, Spanish nobles, even French spies taking notes.