My father was blessed with a title, a castle, 35,000 hectares of fertile farmland, two hundred hired servants, the ear of the king, and twelve sons, of which I am number eleven. My eldest brother, Andrew, inherited my father's vast holdings this year past, and since I've not the stomach for medicine, the patience of a soldier, the piety of a priest, or the brains of a lawyer, I must find my place in the world of business, and that place is across the uncharted oceans in the crown colonies of Haraway.