This note contains spoilers for the book.

Second of the Merchant Princes books.

Miriam deals with assassins and incompetent guards from various factions, including a branch of the family the main branch doesn't know about—the branch that promoted the disastrous civil war of a generation ago.

This other branch of the family travels between the original world and a different world. Turns out it's because they have a different knot, which in turn is because of a faulty reconstruction from memory. They don't realize they're going to a different world, either; they think they were abandoned by their siblings, and are out for revenge.

Meanwhile, Miriam wants to get the family out of the drug trade by finding more profitable enterprises, and also wants to consolidate her position enough to be as safe as feasible. She starts a technology transfer business on the other world, and things are looking hopeful for that model.