The City

Nicopolis, AD 114. Ferox is sent to the eastern frontier while a Roman army lays siege to a city beyond the empire’s normal limits. He remains tied to Hadrian’s service and carries the burden of a suspended death sentence after earlier violence within the army.

The siege reveals corruption and competing ambitions among officers who are meant to serve the same emperor. Ferox must identify traitors before the army breaks itself against the city walls, while deciding whether Hadrian’s orders protect the empire or advance his own future.