"The Red Queen" is the second book in the Spinward March series. The fifteen Khan has been assasinated, his position assumed by his inferior brother. During the presentation of the heirs at age five, the tiniest, Red, openly defies her Uncle, claiming his is inferior. Riots break out across the Empire, prompting the Imperial Council to pronounce the return to the Laws of Angkor Khan. At eighteen, the finest of the heirs will be declared Khan, with the crevate the new Khan doesn't assume until age twenty-five. Thirteen years later, Red, now Annika, is named the Crown Princess and future Khan. With Yuri, her beloved husband at her side, Annika survives college, a military career and assasination attempts. The young Princes is forced to fight to claim her crown from her Uncle, then grow her Empire for the protection of the human and alien citizens of the Mighty Terran Empire