Lord Thornbuckle, Speaker of the Grand Council, has been assassinated and battlelines are quickly drawn to control the new order. Fleet officers Esmay and Barin... » 

Lord Thornbuckle, Speaker of the Grand Council, has been assassinated and battlelines are quickly drawn to control the new order. Fleet officers Esmay and Barin want simply to marry. But nothing is simple in these times, for Barin is a Serrano and Esmay is the Landbride of the planet Altiplano. «