Layla is a patriotic and loyal soldier of the Altainan Republic. And patriots don’t ally themselves with rival Empires. But when she reencounters the handsome imperial noble she had fallen in love with years before, she falls again. Hard. And she decides: she’s going to marry that man. Duty be damned.

Unfortunately, he’s also the new Valharan Emperor.

As tensions rise between her homeworld and her fiance’s Empire, Layla’s attempt to stay neutral and above the conflict goes awry. Her former colleagues threaten her Altainan citizenship, warning her from passing secrets to the Empire. On Valhar, she’s tested and tricked to determine whether she’s providing information to Altain. Everywhere, she finds herself unsafe and threatened, a foreigner no matter where she lands.

As years pass, Layla makes it her mission to democratize the Valharan government. But in the midst of burgeoning war, she must balance the call of freedom with protecting her husband from violent protests against his rule. And when she realizes instability in their isolated galactic community leaves all of its planets vulnerable to hostile invading forces, Layla has to overcome her dual loyalty and end this war for once and for all. At stake is not only her freedom and safety, but the fate of the entire Galactic Whorl.

The Pitch

VORKOSIGAN x BONDS OF BRASS

A Republic soldier

A reluctant Emperor

Their love unites their two worlds–until they declare hostilities. Now soldier-turned-Empress Layla must end a war, before instability endangers every planet in the Galactic Whorl.

The Logline

When a former Republic soldier, now Valharan empress finds herself in the middle of a war between her birth nation and her adopted home, she must act to protect her loved ones on both sides of the conflict.