Duty calls the young, then it grinds their bones to dust. For three hundred years, the Pax Imperium secured peace throughout the galaxy. Now the empire teeters on the brink of collapse. As war brews, the House of Athena expects Jonas to enlist. Unable to escape his gilded cage, the young prince accepts his fate. But when the factions come to blows, his secret affair with the daughter of a rival becomes a liability. As territory falls, Athena lays impossible demands on Jonas, and he is forced to choose between love and the ideals his family fights to preserve. The next political and military thriller from Erik Wecks, author of the critically acclaimed Aetna Adrift.