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Humans have colonized a thousand worlds and empires have risen and fallen. Now the Phoenix House rules the Thousand Suns from their planet Arthelion. And now the Emperor Gelasaar has won the mortal enmity of Eusabian, Lord of Vengeance, Avatar of Dol, the Ruler of Dol'jhar.

In one swift instant that has taken more than twenty years to plan, Eusabian will strike, slaying Gelasaar's sons and taking the Emperor himself captive. And then Eusabian will sit on the Emerald Throne, and Dal'jhar will rule the Thousand Suns.

But Brandon nyr-Arkud, the Emperor's scapegrace son, has chosen this moment to defy protocol and evade a ceremonial duty. And so he escapes the death prepared for him, and lives. Now the hopes of the Thousand Suns rests in the sensual, surprisingly capable hands of an aristocratic fugitive with an agenda all his own.

Jerrode Eusabian, Avator of Dol, sits uneasy on the Emerald Throne of the Thousand Suns, while Brandon vlith-Arkad, rightful heir to the throne, is harried across space. Brandon was meant to die, along with his two older brothers. But he escaped by merest chance - now he is the only hope for the restoration of the Phoenix Empire and the salvation of the people they once ruled. Brandon and his allies, the crew of the ship Telvarna, must flee from peril to peril in search of the one haven no Rifter would ever willingly seek: Ares Station, heart of the Empire's military power. And across the unthinkable reaches of space, the scattered Fleet of the Thousand Suns is slowly learning that their Emperor has been taken, and their home worlds sacked.

Brandon vlith-Arkad is safe on Ares, the Panarchic Navy's HQ. The sole heir to the Phoenix Throne must now fight a battle of symbols and deadly political intent, if he is to win the power to order the Navy into battle, to rescue his father, and win back the Empire now usurped by Eusabian of Dol'jhar. With him in this prison of velvet ropes and poisoned gifts is the crew of the Telvarna, the Rifter pirates whose loyalty Brandon has won in battle. Meanwhile, Brandon's father, the Panarch of the Thousand Suns, is being transported to the prison planet Gehenna. On board the ship his is fighting his own subtle war with his former fosterling, Eusabian's son Anaris. If Gelasaar can discover any hint that Anaris can rule as an Arkad would, the captive Panarch will aid Anaris to overthrow Eusabian himself.

From Pirate to Emperor... - Young Brandon Arkad has been brought by war and disaster to a duty he never expected: Pananch of the Thousand Suns, Emperor of the human worlds beyond the Rift. But his Empire is in shambles, as the implacable Jerrod Eusabian and his Rifter allies continue to pillage whole planets, and the Emerald Throne is out of reach on occupied Arthelion. The surviving nobility of the Panarchy have gathered aboard Ares, the headquarters of the Panarchic Fleet. Now Brandon must grasp the power given him in the moment of his father's death, and wield it to wrest his empire from the hands of the usurper. But he must win the faith of his people before he can hope to win a war, and that will not be easy. For there is a traitor at the heart of the Panarchy, thwarting Brandon's every move with poisonous rumor and murderous plots - a traitor at the center of Brandon's councils, close enough to be invisible - a traitor who will stop at nothing to destroy the Arkad dynasty.

The final battle for the Thousand Suns is at hand. Brandon hai-Arkad has been crowned Emperor, but his throne remains in the hands of his enemy, Jarrod Eusabian of Dol'jhar. The fleet has been gathered, the order or battle drawn. Brandon will reclaim his father's empire, or die.