A point when one great power threatens to displace another, war is unavoidable . . . Thracius "Tracy" Belmanor has struggled to do his patriotic duty in the wake of the loss of the love of his life, Empress Mercedes de Arango. Amid a desperate war, the Solar League cannot afford his grief, nor the political instability of admitting the depth of their relationship. It is for duty alone, both as a soldier and as a father, that he has entered into a loveless marriage that makes him part of the royal family to shepherd his son and the Solar League towards what seems to be humanity's triumph against its foe. However, a new danger has appeared that will lead to extinction on a galactic scale, and once again both Tracy and Mercedes must place duty over their own desires.