Kingdoms of Death

For a century, Hadrian Marlowe, once humanity's most celebrated knight, has been a prisoner of his own legend, bound to the Emperor as an unwilling advisor. As the galaxy-spanning war against the Cielcin escalates, mankind finds itself on the brink of collapse. The Great Prince Syriani Dorayaica is uniting the disparate Cielcin clans into an unstoppable force, devastating human space with ruthless precision. With the Empire standing alone against this unprecedented threat, the Emperor is left with one desperate option: task Hadrian Marlowe with an impossible mission. He must journey across the stars to the Lothrian Commonwealth, a powerful independent faction, and convince them to join the war effort. But Hadrian's path is fraught with deception and danger, leading him far beyond imperial borders, deep behind enemy lines, and into the very heart of the conflict where the truth of his past and future will be irrevocably forged in fire.