In a world where magic and lineage dominate the arts of politics and war, Vladimir is the dispossessed heir of a fallen house whose powers have been locked away. In the Sultanate, he and his brother Radu are little more than pawns, hostages whose original reason for survival died with their father, the Dragon, when their cousin usurped their father’s throne. When the newly crowned Sultan Allaedin puts his princely rivals and steam-powered mechs at the vanguard of his army, Vladimir is swept into the action by his brother’s foolish desire to be accepted by the Turks as one of their own. With danger comes the opportunity to prove himself a useful pawn. Useful pawns can earn a little freedom and favor. Yet that battle is only the beginning. And favor and freedom is not the same as loyalty. Vladimir may be the sultan’s soldier for now, but he will always be the Dragon’s son.