AustLit

'James Mawson has spent the last three months enmeshed in increasingly dirty schemes, his own days of glory long behind him. The execution of prisoners, including Ross Tillman, is the next item on the agenda. But when one of the doomed prisoners is the woman he loves, Mawson has no choice but to take a stand on principle, even though it could cost him everything.

'Ross and Edana desperately evade Padakan search parties, trying to survive even just one more day. They carry with them a secret that could bring the Padakan empire crumbling down... if they could just manage to get off-world with it.

'Meanwhile, things have come to a head on Earth. Tensions between Padakan House and the Confederacy are escalating quickly, and it seems only a matter of time before a shot is fired in anger. Frank Tomhines devises a plan to set things right. But his plan demands blood. A lot of blood.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.