Every empire has its rebels. This isn't their story.

Claudia Augustus takes the throne too young after most of the imperial household is assassinated by those her empire has spent generations crushing. She believes the Empire is worth saving — and she'll do whatever it takes to hold it together, no matter what it costs her.

Driana Ferona is the daughter of the High Priestess, one of the Empire's most powerful instruments of control. Trained in secret by the Thieves' Guild and hiding it from everyone, she walks a line between two worlds — carrying a secret about her origins that even she doesn't know.

Raylan Trisval's people were conquered and colonised by the Legion — led by his own father, the most celebrated general in the Empire. Now he must uncover the truth of his bloodline and why his family turned against their own.

They want to do better than the generation before them. Something ancient is counting on it.

An epic fantasy inspired by Rome. For readers of Robert Jordan, Brian Staveley and Seth Dickinson, with the historical grounding of Conn Iggulden.