Dominion of Dust

Name: Dominion of Dust
Rating: 4.6 (657 reviews)

by Matthew Harffy Book 4 in the A Time for Swords series.

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4.6(657)

In 797, Hunlaf and his crew travel through Cyprus and the eastern Mediterranean to obtain a Christian relic before agents of the Byzantine empress Eirene can secure it. Betrayal leaves them without their prize and pushes the voyage onward to Jerusalem, where competing authorities and relic hunters create new dangers. The mission becomes a race through religious and imperial intrigue in which failure may cost both the treasure and their lives.

Relics are valuable because they carry both spiritual prestige and political influence. Competing Christian powers can use possession to strengthen churches, courts and diplomatic claims, turning Hunlaf’s mission into more than a treasure hunt.

Cyprus and Jerusalem place the crew inside a Mediterranean world where Byzantine officials, local rulers, merchants and pilgrims all possess different priorities. Betrayal forces Hunlaf to navigate those networks without the institutional protection that sent him on the voyage in the first place.