Blood was spilled between the Republic of Mareen and the armies of the Blood Emperor long ago. When the former Legatus, Verne Amari, is murdered, his granddaughter Ikenna knows two things: that only someone on the Tribunal could have ordered his death, and that only a Praetorian Guard could have carried out that order. As she faces the racism directed against her half-Khanaian heritage and the misogyny of a society that cherishes progeny over prodigy, Ikenna needs to find out who murdered her grandfather--and then she needs to kill them. -- Adapted from book jacket.