When Prince Lucas Trask of Tanith, Space Viking, put a bullet in the head of the man he’d crossed the galaxy to revenge himself on for slaying his bride moments after they’d wed, he figured that his eight-year ordeal was over. He could settle down, rule his frontier planet and his enterprising band of vicious Space Vikings, marry a beautiful noblewoman from a civilized world, and watch Tanith grow and prosper into his dotage.
But Space Vikings don’t usually die in bed, and the galaxy seems to have plans for Prince Lucas. A flurry of assassination attempts, a stark summons from his homeworld’s vile new King, a foreign-funded native insurrection, a moody princess, and the rejection of his idea of a League of Civilized Worlds by the very civilized worlds he admired were problematic; discovering that he’s about to become a father is even more so. To top it all off, a mysterious figure known only as “The Wizard” is protecting him and advising him, for reasons unknown.
Now he has to convince his motley band of aristocrats, warlords, entrepreneurs allies and exiles to come together to protect the nascent Planetary Realm he’s fought so hard to establish, as powerful forces array themselves against the...
