She remembered covering the child’s mouth with her hand as she slowly slit his throat. She remembered the look of shock and horror in the boy’s blue eyes, as he clutched desperately at his neck, but mostly she remembered the blood. Bright red and warm, it had pulsed from his neck, spraying across the room and across her hands and face, like rain in summer.    Separated by the cold void of space, the last remnants of humanity escaped a dying Earth to settle in colonies across the galaxy and now barter with their imperial overlord for water. Grappling with the murder of her husband, the Duchess Mariam, and her son, Ibrahim, must find a way to defend themselves against a fast approaching army of Imperial droids, whilst the mistakes of her past threaten their present. Unbeknown to them, however, the Emperor has his own reasons for launching his invasion. Reasons that will have profound consequences for both Ibrahim and the Empire as a whole.