They say I murdered my twin brother. To save the empire, I may have to prove them right.

The aether flowers are dying, and the empire’s light is thinning.

Romulus and I were raised to compete for the right to rule. Father favoured him, while I had to fight my sickly lungs to earn his approval.

Then one night, Romulus vanished.

When Father ordered my arrest, I fled, hunted for a murder I did not commit.

But Romulus lives.

He has joined a cult of burn-scarred fanatics. Black poppies bloom from their victims’ corpses, spreading to destroy the flowers that guard our empire.

Beneath the phoenix standards of the legions and beyond a frontier of lethal flowers, I will hunt the cult to find my brother—and uncover why he left me.

I seek to bring him home. But he has become key to the cult’s plans.

To save my people, I may have to take his life—and become the killer Father believes I am.

Hail and farewell, Romulus.