Lucius is the last survivor of Seleucia, a city the Romans destroyed. He slips into a Roman legion under a false name, hiding his grief and his fury. On a night of the full moon, his blood unexpectedly calms the beast-curse that torments Crown Prince Tiberius, and the prince conscripts him as a personal guard. What begins as suspicion and testing becomes a bond of protection in life and in death.
Together they chase the truth behind the curse and learn that Lucius carries the last royal blood of his lost homeland. Each secret they uncover pulls them closer, even as the Senate's conspirators circle. At last the two bloodlines unite against the plot. The two men bind themselves in a dual-blood ritual that lifts the imperial curse, ends an ancient feud and reshapes the destiny of both peoples.
