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The slow collapse of the British Empire in the nineteenth century meant opportunity for anyone with ammunition and wit. Now the Wildensterns are by far the most powerful family--and the most ruthless. Trained from childhood in the arts of assassination and conspiracy and endowed with the supernatural ability to live for more than a century, the clan has grown rich, vicious, and seemingly invincible.

After nearly two years away, eighteen-year-old Nate has returned. But his homecoming is shattered when his eldest brother, Marcus, is mysteriously killed. Following the Rules of Ascension, which allow one male family member to murder another, Nate is being blamed. Nate knows he isn't the murderer, but who is? With the help of his sister-in-law, Daisy, and his cousin Gerald, Nate intends to find out. Their investigation brings them into the underbelly of the Wildenstern empire, where living machines, conspiring relatives, and undercover mercenaries do their dirty work. But when a disaster uncovers the ancient remains of Wildenstern ancestors, the lives of the family members and their struggle for power will take a bizarre and gruesome turn.

The British Empire is no longer the authority it once was. Instead, it's controlled by private business organizations--the most powerful of which is Ireland's ruthless Wildenstern family. Eighteen-year-old Nathaniel Wildenstern has given up his dreams of travel and adventure to devote himself to being his brother Berto's head of security. With the help of his wife, Daisy, Berto wants to change the barbaric ways of the clan. But there are many among the Wildensterns who like things the way they are, and will resort to whatever devious methods necessary to keep them that way.

Meanwhile, the burned bodies of women are appearing around Dublin. When a connection to the Wildenstern family is discovered, Nate, Daisy, and Nate's sister Tatiana decide to investigate. Soon they are digging into shadowy societies and dark family secrets that date back to the origin of the part-animal, part-machine enigmals. And what the young Wildensterns find could shed light on the savage nature of their family itself.

It's been three years since Nathaniel Wildenstern left Ireland and his ruthless family behind. But no one turns his back on the Wildensterns, the powerful family controlling what was once the British Empire. While Nate's been gone, one of his maniacal cousins has been hard at work researching engimals--the bizarre living machines with the brains of animals--with the intent of creating the ultimate new species.

When Nate learns what his cousin has been up to, he knows he must return and put a stop to it. But in his absence, his clan has become even more despised for its merciless hunger for power. For Nate to succeed, he'll have to return in secret--because wherever the Wildensterns go, violence and betrayal are sure to follow.