Seluban has done the impossible, freeing the wrongfully imprisoned from Coward's Forge, exposing the corruption at the heart of his empire, and buying his people time to regroup in their war with humanity. However, those he deposed are not so easily cowed, and a deadly conspiracy to regain power threatens to take from Seluban everything he loves.

Facing conflict from within, and without, Seluban and his allies must figure out who to trust, and who masquerades as friend, and if they fail, it will tear the Chon'ith Empire apart, from within, and without...