The gates to humanity’s future are open. In one stroke, more than a thousand new worlds became accessible—including Laconia, where Emperor Duarte has established a regime he intends to use to subjugate the rest of the galaxy. Nothing seems able to stop him—even the Solar System is under his control. And although Rosinante’s crew begins a dangerous underground fight against the Duarte empire, life under Laconia feels increasingly inevitable—and with it, the war that humanity will most likely lose, because bravery and ambition alone aren’t enough to resist the arbitrariness and horror taking place. But perhaps not everything is lost. After all, the powerful father-emperor has a daughter—Teresa—and she has her own secrets and mysteries, unknown even to her all-powerful father…