Freighter Captain Jess Sondijk thought she had her life under control until Admiral Hudson's Confederacy battle cruiser stops her ship to search for contraband. His questions reopen matters she had thought resolved. What if her husband's death during an official boarding wasn't accidental? Hudson has his own questions. Who in the Confederacy is trading with the Ptorix? And what price is high enough to pay for starhearts, the prized jewels the aliens call the windows of the soul? Jess and Hudson's interests collide in more ways than one as they follow a shadowy trail of deceit and corruption...

Newly-promoted Captain Brett Butcher is about to achieve his life-long ambition to command a battle cruiser. But before he takes up his new posting, he goes home on leave, hoping to perhaps catch a glimpse of his first love, the unattainable Lady Tarlyn. When the queen is assassinated in a terrorist attack, Tarlyn's life is thrown into turmoil when she, too, becomes a target. The last person she expects to rescue her is her childhood sweetheart, Brett Butcher. As Validor's Ptorix and human populations face off over a group of islands neither owns, the calls for war grow louder. Torn between...

Three exciting stories from the Dryden Universe A Matter of Trust Pursued by her father's agents Princess Amira races across the galaxy in a desperate search for a safe haven. Amid simmering tensions at the edge of the Empire, she renews her acquaintance with Imperial Admiral Ul-Mellor. But what will he do when faced with a choice - Amira or his hard-won commission? The Demon's Eye Escaping from a civil war, Krystina Merkos hitches a ride on an Imperial warship. But it's not all plain sailing. The captain wants to seduce her, her old flame Ben is trying to keep his distance - and pirates want...