Focused on duty and his men to the exclusion of all else, Arrius is a loyal, battle-tested soldier. Following Hadrian’s suppression of the second Jewish revolt in Judaea in 135 CE, his core belief in Rome begins to erode without understanding why. For his prowess in Judaea, he is highly decorated and given the opportunity for assignment in Rome to command the Praetorian Guard. Instead of accepting the prized command, he requests duty on Hadrian’s Wall. It will be Ilya, a beautiful native woman in Britannia, who will become the catalyst for understanding why he chose command of an obscure frontier fort instead of fame and fortune in Rome.

    A homesick, 16 year-old Roman girl and her illegitimate child, exiled by the Emperor Nero to Britannia. A middle-aged Celtic king of an insignificant tribe, trying to find middle ground between Celtic tradition and Roman rule and making enemies on both sides. The shadow of martyred Queen Boudicca like a curse on the land. An old Legionary willing to give his life for a friend, and a former Greek slave with a secret past. And an overbearing Roman architect trying to build a copy of one of the most glorious palaces in Rome in a backwater of the Empire - What could go wrong?

     The Roman Empire has swallowed most of Europe. There are pockets of resistance... but nowhere, no one, is safe.Refugee. Slave. Queen.Mederei, eldest daughter of the fallen war-queen Boudicca, fled north with her sister to continue the fight for British freedom.But nowhere is safe from Rome. Now she must fight for her life for the amusement of her enemy. Soldier. Hostage. Prince. Adalbern, a proud Batavian, serving in the Roman auxiliary, lived by their rules.But no one is safe from Rome.His people scattered and his nephew held hostage in Rome itself, he is now nothing more than a glorified prisoner.It's life or death both in the arena and out for Mederei and Adalbern as they try to survive and save their people.“A fascinating journey into the past filled with action and emotional depths that can only come from a novel by S. M. Carrière.”Éric Desmarais, author of A Study in Aether“S.M. Carrière's books immediately ensnare me. Vivid settings, exquisitely crafted characters... Her stories haunt me for the longest time.”Cait Gordon, author of Life in the ’Cosm