But as Mark Tudor is about to learn, the cost of justice is paid in blood. And no one is truly safe. Gyl Mareth’s rot corrupts the Guild, and Mark means to cut it out at the source. To do that, he’ll have to lobby powerful supporters—spindly, blue aliens, toads infatuated with bureaucracy, and maybe even an influential bartender or two. Help is there for an honorable man to find, as long as he’s got the strength of conviction and the right kind of friends. Disturbing the established order will mean kicking over a fair number of rocks, although Mark, Valint, and the others might be surprised by what scurries forth underneath—and what uniform it’s wearing when it steps into the light. Mark Tudor will make the title Peacemaker mean something once again, but to do that, he’ll have to face the worst the galaxy has to offer. Death waits in the quiet moments. And sometimes, it is a soldier’s loved ones that pay the greatest price.