Synopsis: From the back cover of the Tor first edition: From Pirate to Emperor... - Young Brandon Arkad has been brought by war and disaster to a duty he never expected: Pananch of the Thousand Suns, Emperor of the human worlds beyond the Rift. But his Empire is in shambles, as the implacable Jerrod Eusabian and his Rifter allies continue to pillage whole planets, and the Emerald Throne is out of reach on occupied Arthelion. The surviving nobility of the Panarchy have gathered aboard Ares, the headquarters of the Panarchic Fleet. Now Brandon must grasp the power given him in the moment of his father's death, and wield it to wrest his empire from the hands of the usurper. But he must win the faith of his people before he can hope to win a war, and that will not be easy. For there is a traitor at the heart of the Panarchy, thwarting Brandon's every move with poisonous rumor and murderous plots - a traitor at the center of Brandon's councils, close enough to be invisible - a traitor who will stop at nothing to destroy the Arkad dynasty.