The Ruby Dice

Roll the Dice of Empire!

The Eubian Interstellar Concord. Dominating. Static. A pyramid of cosmic power built on the bones of slaves. Their opponents? The freedom-loving, telepathic Skolian Imperialate. Now centuries of war come to head and a new galactic Dark Age looms as rival emperors -- related by blood, love, and an intrigue as deep as the space between stars – take a desperate gamble to find a way through the carnage of battle to a new understanding. But first they'll have to keep their own heads off the chopping blocks of the enemy within. The latest and greatest entry in the star-spanning Skolian Saga!

A New SF Legend Re-makes Worlds!

"[T]houghtful, engaging characters and an intriguing vision of the future."
— Publishers Weekly on Nebula-award-winning Catherine Asaro's "Skolian Saga."

Cover Art by Alan Pollack

Hardcover

This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.

First printing, January 2008

Distributed by Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020

Printed in the United States of America

ISBN-13: 978-1-4165-5514-8
ISBN-10: 1-4165-5514-5

A Baen Books Original
Baen publishing Enterprises
P.O. Box 1403
Riverdale, NY 10471
https://www.baen.com

Electronic version by Baen Books
https://www.baen.com

To Jim Baen
1943-2006
In memory of one of
the great publishers

Baen Books by Catherine Asaro

Sunrise Alley
Alpha
The Ruby Dice

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the following readers for their much appreciated input. Their comments have made this a better book. Any mistakes that remain are mine alone.

To Aly Parsons, Kate Dolan, Sarah White, and Maria Markham Thompson for their excellent reading and comments on the full manuscript; to Aly's Writing Group for insightful critiques of scenes: Aly Parsons, Simcha Kuritzky, Connie Warner, Al Carroll, J. G. Huckenpöhler, John Hemry, Bud Sparhawk, and Bob Chase. To my editor and publisher, Toni Weisskopf; to Hank Davis, Marla Anspan, Danielle Turner, Mary Ann Johanson (copy editor), and all the other people at Baen who did such a fine job making this book possible; to my excellent agent, Eleanor Wood, of Spectrum Literary Agency; and to Binnie Braunstein for her enthusiasm and hard work on my behalf.

A heartfelt thanks to the shining lights in my life, my husband, John Cannizzo, and my daughter, Cathy, for their love and support.