From Introduction: Verlaine, the head of the Captains’ Council of Freeport, is no fool—when he hires personal guards, he gets the best muscle money can buy. And for the captain of those guards, he chose the toughest, smartest fighter in the crew: Reikert Lloyd. Unlike most thugs-for-hire, Lloyd came from the right side of the tracks. For decades, his family made candles and shipboard lanterns out of a large shop in the Old City. Lloyd, the third-youngest of four children, didn’t stand to get his hands on the family business; at the same time he resented his older siblings, he found the idea of being cooped up in a shop all day stifling. At school—one of the finest in Freeport—he was a sullen and distracted student. For kicks he took up with the sons of other merchants for all-night carousing sessions. After a few benders, his parents threatened to cut him off. He took them up on their offer and headed to sea.