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?