Bøger udgivet af Stealing Fire Productions Inc.

Princess Mercedes de Arango, the future empress of the Solar League, and her common-born classmate, Thracius "Tracy" Belmanor have at last secured their dream of becoming part of the elite officer corps, but they have lost the love they declared for each other. Mercedes has agreed to a loveless political marriage in order to secure her claim to the throne. Tracy is stationed far away on a battleship, struggling to help ordinary settlers crushed by an uncaring League. Now Mercedes, miserable in her marriage, faces decisions that will test her soul and perhaps destroy forever her strained friendship with Tracy. In a society where every alien and most humans are second-class citizens, Tracy and Mercedes wrestle with a stark decision: violate their own principles or betray a government they both swore to serve. In evil times, treachery might be the only option, but will they also betray each other and the love they once shared?

For fourteen years, Thracius "Tracy" Belmanor has struggled to make a life for himself after being betrayed by the woman he loves. Court martialed, disgraced, and removed from the military he survives as the captain of a small trading vessel dealing in black market goods beneath the very nose of the elites of the Solar League.Tracy's betrayer, Princess Mercedes de Arango, has problems of her own. She is facing the intrigues of the nobility opposed to her ascent to the throne. Especially because she has failed to produce an heir to secure that throne. Her situation is made worse by the actions of her unfaithful husband who has had no problem producing a bevy of illegitimate children and has been involved in corrupt business dealings.Desperate to hold off a coup, Mercedes embarks on a military campaign to earn the allegiance of her people through victory. But victory is rarely certain, and instead she finds herself once more faced with the man she betrayed. Can they find the strength to forgive and prevent the League from falling into civil war.

Princess Mercedes, daughter of the Emperor-beautiful, privileged, sharp as a sword-has no say in her life. When her father determines she must graduate from the Solar League's elite military academy, The High Ground, in order to ascend the throne, she does as he commands. Even though she'll be the first woman admitted to the Star Command academy, which means no one wants her there, including herself.But Mercedes is not one to back down from a challenge.Thracius "Tracy" Belmanor, the common-born son of a tailor, has won a scholarship to The High Ground. This is his chance to rise above the life scripted for him, to become an officer in Star Command, even possibly win fame and honor. But the high-born sons of corporate royalty treat him with scorn and derision, isolating him in his struggle to survive the harsh curriculum.Tracy is alone and miserable, until he forms an unlikely friendship with the the Emperor's daughter.As if surviving the academy isn't enough-along with all the teasing about the princess and the pauper-Mercedes and Tracy soon stumble upon a conspiracy that goes to the highest echelons. The aristocracy-controlled Solar League has been hiding secrets and not all alien races are under its control. Alien invasion, civil, and interstellar war loom on the horizon-with Tracy and Mercedes in the thick of it all, testing the bounds of friendship, loyalty, and desire.