Anyone can plot a coup or fire an assassin's bullet. But in a world of muskets and magic, it takes considerably more to seize the throne. The ailing King of the Vordan lies on his deathbed. When he dies, his daughter, Raesinia Orboan, will become the first Queen Regnant in centuries- and a ripe target for the ambitious men who seek to control her. The most dangerous of these is Duke Orlanko, Minister of Information and master of the secret police....

From the author of The Price of Valor, The Shadow Throne, and The Thousand Names comes a new novella set in the world of the Shadow Campaigns-"a world of dust and bayonets and muskets... and magic." The wagons travel north across the mountains, carrying cargo of great value: Hamveltai glass and porcelain; Deslandai jewelry in heavy iron strongboxes; fine cloth from the cities of the Old Coast. And Abraham. Bound and tied, guarded day and night, Abraham...

Military might and arcane powers clash in Wexler's fifth action-packed Shadow Campaigns novel. The Beast, the ancient demon imprisoned beneath Elysium for a thousand years, has been loosed on the world. It absorbs mind after mind, spreading like a plague through the north. And it threatens the heart of Vordan. As Queen Raesinia Orboan and soldiers Marcus D'Ivoire and Winter Ihernglass grapple with the aftermath of a hard fought military campaign,...