Date Published: 12/10/2025
Publisher: Manhattan Book Group
In Reign of Secrets, diplomacy meets danger, and the past may be the deadliest weapon of all.
Praise for Reign of Secrets
"A gripping, timely story... that masterfully blends that warrior ethos with today's geopolitical reality, as Whit Ransom confronts Vladimir Putin's ruthless ambition to resurrect an empire."
- Lt. Col. James Reese (Ret.), US Army Delta Force Operator
"Through this historical thriller, Reign of Secrets offers a captivating glimpse into the essence of what it means to follow in the footsteps of legends..."
- Morten Andersen, "The Great Dane", Member, NFL Hall of Fame
"A masterfully crafted tale that explores how the West's adversaries subtly challenge the narratives of history - reshaping symbols, exploiting weaknesses, reframing legacies, and testing the resilience of democratic values and the international order."
-Lt. General Ed Cardon (Ret.), former Commander, US Army Cyber Command
9.
Konstantinovsky Palace, St. Petersburg, 2:10 am local time
Vladimir Putin fingered the letter, turning it over and over in his
hand. The party committee leader in Crimea was right to have sent it directly
to him a year earlier when the bodies of the remaining two Romanov children,
Grand Duchess Maria and the Czar’s only son,
Alexei, had been finally autopsied. The bodies had been discovered in
2007 in the forest outside Yekaterinburg. The letter, bearing the date November
21, 1917, had been sewn into the fabric of the nightclothes of Grand Duchess
Maria, who would have been nineteen when she was murdered. For the one
hundredth time, Putin unfolded the letter and read its contents: a message from
a mother to a son, a son who she was convinced would return to reclaim a
throne.
“My Dearest Nicky: As I write this letter, I no longer hear
the guns. But I hear that the guns have come for you and that they have taken
you from the palace. You know that my thoughts and prayers never leave you. I
think of you day and night and sometimes feel so sick at heart that I believe I
cannot bear it any longer. But God is merciful. He will give us strength for
this terrible ordeal. As for me, I am not fearful of what is to come. I
know that our family will survive and that you will soon return to rule our
people. Nicky, should the day come that you need to call upon it, you need to
know that our family in Denmark harbors a secret, not a terrible secret, as is
harbored by so many of the royal families of Europe, but a magnificent and
ancient secret, in our family for a thousand years, as described by the Son of
Thor.”
Putin
looked up from the letter and pondered how much they had learned since his
Patriarch, Ilya Mikhailov, had connected the reference to the “Son of
Thor” with the Gospel of John in Dublin’s Trinity Library. Putin had puzzled
over that reference for weeks, knowing that the empress’s Viking ancestors
believed in many gods and goddesses, the three primary deities being Odin,
Thor, and Frey. Thor was Odin’s son and the most popular god who protected
humans from evil. But the patriarch had thought the reference to “Son of Thor”
was odd, because in Viking lore Thor was not known to have had sons. The
patriarch knew that Thor’s name in Viking lore meant “thunder,” and to Vikings
the sound of thunder was caused by the god’s chariot riding across the sky. So
the patriarch reasoned that Dagmar’s reference must have been a clue to
something else. Translating Dagmar’s reference as “Son of Thunder,” Mikhailov
immediately recognized the reference to the New Testament and the Apostle John,
who the early church nicknamed the “Son of Thunder.” The patriarch knew that
the most well-known copy of the Gospel of John had existed “for a thousand
years,” as the letter referenced, and it was in Dublin, within the Book of
Kells.
Putin returned to reading the letter. “With the secret
lies the key to your return to the throne, and indeed to ensuring Russia’s
predominance among the empires of the world. To call upon it, you need only
come to me. Or if I am gone, then to your cousin on the Danish throne, to the
home where we enjoyed such wonderful Christmases in years past. My thoughts are
with you always, my dear Nicky, just as the arms of God are wrapped around you.
With Love, Mama.”
He put the letter down. “I know we are close,
Empress. I know we are close, and that the secret you tried to share with your
son will soon be mine.”
About the Author
A personal encounter with Islamic terrorism in 2016 became the catalyst for writing Reign of Secrets.
Reign of Secrets is the first in a series of Whit Ransom novels.
His first book, The American, written during the last few months of his diplomatic service, was a Bestseller in Denmark.
Ambassador Cain and his family live in North Carolina.
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