Steel in the Blood

The box was large, cubic... Erick saw the glowing panel, symbols in green and gold flowing upward across its face. "Bryn", he thought. "Damnit." He recognized what those patterns meant, what must be inside...

Erick is Executor of the Geneline Ollson; protector of trillions of the Empress's subjects. He has ruled for three centuries prepares his daughter to take his place-but that may happen sooner than he hoped. The target of a looming civil war, he must find a way to avert the bloodshed. But in his search, he uncovers a dark secret that makes him question the nature of his beliefs.

Bryn is next in line for the Ollson seat. She is fiercely loyal to her father, and to her family. So when she and Erick are accused of treason and attacked by former allies, she glories in saving them. But her fight is just begun, for soon the Obershire ships will appear in her skies. And she must be ready for war.

Bjorn Hafthor is the commander of the Second Company. He has seen combat from peacekeeping to planetary defense. His troops are second only to the Black Guard themselves. But nothing could prepare him for the strangeness they find in a station under siege.

Narbutovskih has written a compelling vision of the future, grounded in the struggles that define us all. Steel in the Blood is a sweeping exploration of myth and mankind, in the tradition of Dune and The Expanse.

The story continues in Iron on the Tongue...