Interstellar war struck like lightning. The tezar Palaton knows it may well strike again The desperate choice made by Palaton and Rand to bond the tezar's psychic powers to cleanse them of burnout was meant to be temporary. Faster than light starship drives create a chaos only a tezar can navigate—and now that very ability may be threatening Palaton's very life. Those who helped initiate the experimental treatment are destroyed by an alien attack and political forces tear the pair apart.

Palaton must deceive all those who depend upon him, as enemies draw close. Chosen unwillingly as the Emperor's heir, he must journey where Rand cannot follow. The young human falls prey to forces of civil unrest, as the Bringer of Change whose presence signals a new age or complete descent into the final Chaos of war among classes between those who have power and those who do not.

Meanwhile, enemies in the Compact look eagerly to grasp whatever advantages and victories they can.