Painted River

Six years after his brother's death, Ronin Riley finds himself on his knees as he stares into the barrel of a pistol handled by the most terrifying and powerful women in the world, the Duchess. Just less than four years earlier, she had seized control of the eastern United States, unleashing a war still fought in the Appalachians. The Duchess called her dictatorship the Great Empire.

Now, she is personally executing Ronin and sixteen others, a ritual she performs every two weeks. In the week leading up to the fateful day, Ronin finds that there are so many secrets the Great Empire keeps: the true hierarchy of power, the prisoners they keep, scandals, and even the Duchess herself.

When the Duchess purposefully aims for Ronin's neck rather than his head, she tells him to run. Just a day ago, she had asked for his help in exchange for information about the whereabouts of his late brother, but he refused due to the mind games she had played on him before. But the Duchess had been serious, getting out was her dying wish. She was only a facade in the Great Empire's reign.

Taking up on the possibility that his brother may be alive somewhere, Ronin breaks out with the woman he vowed to hate and get her some place where the Great Empire couldn't touch her. But will his sister and her family refuse to help? Will the rebel organization he takes part in accept his proposals? Most of all, what are the Duchess' plans and who is she really?