Everyone knows about the Battle of Trafalgar and Admiral Horatio Nelson ... but what happened to the man on the other side?

April 1806. Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve lies dead in a provincial inn, his body marked by wounds too deliberate for accident — and too careful for rage. Now, Napoleon Bonaparte and his inner circle must confront not only the facts of the death, but the deeper corrosion it reveals beneath the imperial gilt.

At the heart of the Empire, the silence is strategic, and survival is measured in the corpses of betrayed men.

Where does the lie end, and where does the truth begin?

Peace across Europe hangs in the balance. The beat of war drums is rising.

And history is always written by those who outlive it.