It’s not yet time to exhale….

A child that should not have been born in the Rimworlds, is hidden behind the impenetrable wall that screens the dominion of frontier gods from the tribal factions. Shortly before they were slaughtered by New Hebrides pirates, baby’s parents named her Miranda. She is the hereditary princess of Bollidor, and a Duchess on her father’s side. But the little girl doesn’t know any of this. Her caretakers named her Kitaya. It is a name that fits the frontier—primitive, raw and savage. Yet it fits her far better than those other aristocratic titles of the DeWynter Dynasty.

The blockade of the passage to the Rimworlds lasts thirteen years. Then finally, the Confederation manages to push the pirates back to their region in New Hebrides. And Admiral DeWynter, who had buried the mother part of herself for many years, allows it to surface. She sends a single ship through the newly liberated passage. The captain has orders to ascertain what happened to Commander Daniel DeWynter and his wife. There is little hope that any of the Allied personnel stationed on Synoor at the time of the attack, survived.

Kitaya’s caretakers would prefer to keep her on Synoor. It’s the only home she’s ever known. However, something so extraordinary happens that the frontier gods have no choice but to return the child to those who came to look for her parents.

Keenly aware that they are releasing someone who should have never existed to join the human ranks, the frontier gods worry they may have doomed galactic humanity. The only consolation they have is that when risks seem to outweigh the benefits, the Universe seeks to re-balance itself. Because somewhere on the other end of the galaxy, another little girl stands on the lip of a horrendous crater, trying to understand the nature of the tragedy that orphaned her at such a young age. And this little girl understands the meaning of revenge only too well….

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