"It is your choice," he said, stepping so close to me that our lips were almost touching. "Either do what I say - or get another job." My heart stood still as I gazed up into his deep, dark, dangerous eyes... In a world where women's only role in life is to sit at home and look pretty, Lilly is determined to fight for her freedom. There's only one problem: a powerful man blocking her way.

Cassandra Flanagan has just been given the unwinnable assignment. An officer in His Majesty's Royal Armed Space Forces of the Star Commonwealth, and a self-professed "accidental" noblewoman, Cassandra has gathered more than her share of enemies. Foremost among them is the man who sits upon the Commonwealth's throne, King Mahomet. Eager to get her out of the way of his son's succession, he sends Cassandra to the Azagnani Sector; a hotbed of separatist movements, with virtually no support, and orders to strike first. While he believes Cassandra's failure to be all but assured, he hasn't accounted for two things: Cassandra's determination; and her young niece Salibelle, a freshly-commissioned Intelligence officer. Together, Cassandra and Sallibelle must piece together clues that will link the Azagnani separatists to Azagnani's most prominent noble, Otto von Brauneis. However, when those clues suggest a connection deep inside the Solar Empire ... the enemy of the Commonwealth and all other free star nations; Cassandra and Sallibelle find themselves in a high-stakes game of life or death.