“But the world’s more delicate than friends and enemies. That pleasant dichotomy is something you should understand does not exist.”
The people of Telgora hold their breath. They listen as whispers of peace flow from Isen to Fangbay Port and cries for war echo from the streets of Riversbend to the halls of Cobra’s Hood.  The Chancellor of Telgora pledges order at any cost while the Lord of the North declares a free Nordkeiten future.  In their shadows, assassinations and intrigue run like blood in the streets.  Rising smoke from a coming war for control shades the world, hiding dark forces from within and without. Few truly grasp what threatens Telgora’s foundations, and those that do can only watch helplessly from behind prison bars, atop rotting thrones, or from dying industrial empires.  It is easy for the willing to turn a blind eye to the tinder resting under their feet, easier still to find ways to profit from the coming carnage.  As the vicious games begin, a crowd of voices and visions braces for the next chapter in Telgora’s future. What can they accomplish beyond recapturing the shattered dreams of scrambling revolutionaries and downtrodden peoples?  Perhaps a future free of the fighting needed to build it, and a peace still unknown in this second novel in Justin X. M. Corriss’ Freedom and Control series.