Sebastian Nightingale Cain: Bounty hunter. You can call him the Songbird – but only once. He's after Santiago. Virtue Mackenzie: Freelance reporter. She never gives up. She wants an interview... with Santiago. The Swagman: He collects art – at gun point. He wants a few pieces currently in the hands of Santiago. Santiago: Bandit, murderer, known to all, seen by none... has he killed a thousand men? Has he saved a dozen worlds? His legend is as large as the Rim itself, his trail as elusive as a wisp of starlight in the empty realms of space. The reward for him is the largest in history. Santiago: Do you dare chase him?

They say his father was a comet and his mother a cosmic wind, that he juggled planets as if they were feathers and wrestled with black holes just to work up an appetite. They say he never slept, that his eyes burned brighter than a nova, that his shout could level mountains. That he killed a thousand men, and saved a hundred worlds. They called him Santiago. Bandit, assassin, rebel, thief, he strode across the galactic rim, blazing a legend as rich and wild as the Inner Frontier itself. Then, at the height of his glory, he vanished, leaving behind a trail as elusive as starlight in the empty realms of space. Now, a century later, the name of Santiago is once again whispered along the Galactic Rim...

Alien art historian Leonardo risks his life to unravel the secret of the Dark Lady, a haunting enigma of the eternal night who summons men to seek their destinies—and their deaths