Benjamin Adamant has murdered his sister and most of her family, seizing control of the star systems of the Kingdom of Adamant in a violent coup. He has plans within plans, but despite his military skills, he missed two of his sister’s children. Nikolai Adamant has fought his uncle on the ground of their homeworld for a long and bloody year. Forced back behind the walls of the Kingdom’s mightiest fortress, he has a plan that risks everything he has left but should place him on his mother’s throne. Lorraine Adamant has been to Earth and back. She has forged allies and gathered a force of powerful self-aware battlecruisers. Once more in the Kingdom, she has a plan to overthrow her uncle and restore the balance and traditions of her people’s democracy and monarchy combined. Even if Lorraine’s plan works, her kingdom will still be broken. She will have to face the ramifications of her uncle’s plans and actions… and the consequences of her own.