King of Kings

Egypt and Ethiopia in the late 1880s and 1890s. Amber Benbrook leaves Penrod Ballantyne and travels to Addis Ababa with Saffron and Ryder Courtney, who hope to develop a mine under the protection of Emperor Menelik II. The approaching confrontation reflects Menelik’s consolidation of Ethiopia and Italy’s attempt to transform treaty claims into colonial rule.

Italy’s plans to control Ethiopia draw Penrod into the opposing army and place the former lovers on different sides of an approaching war. Their personal conflict develops alongside Menelik’s mobilisation and the campaign that culminates in Ethiopia’s victory at Adwa. Mining interests, diplomacy and the personal division between Penrod and Amber lead directly towards the First Italo-Ethiopian War and the Ethiopian victory at Adwa.