The Merchant Code

An order of merchant monks keeps the seven worlds from starvation. Each monk desires the ultimate power—to rule the dynasty—but ritual combat determines succession and only one can be left standing. A man from the lowest rung of society is thrust into service aboard a monk’s freighter. With no idea of when he will return to his struggling family, he must weather his imprisonment in the company of strangers. A woman who should be dead watches from the shadows. She is destined to shift the balance of power, but does she have the right to choose how—and to whom?