One seeks to save an empire. The other seeks to save his soul.
A 2025 Eric Hoffer Award finalist.
‘A dangerous world of seduction and intrigue…the storytelling is gripping…the dialogue as keen as an assassin’s blade.’
Alistair Tosh, author of Siege
A cruel command from his merchant father drives sixteen-year-old Druisius from his home and into the front lines. A decade later, he is a man forged by the loss of his first love and the bloodiness of conquest, a soldier who has traded his humanity for survival.
Eudekia, a scholar’s daughter, was never meant for a crown. But in a city choked by famine and an empire bleeding from war, she has become an Emperor’s bride, a prince’s mother, and the throne’s last hope.
The arrival of a delegation from the lost West changes everything. Among them is a young captain—a man of honor who offers Druisius, now a city guard, something he thought he’d lost forever: a chance to move beyond his violent past.
As the Captain captures Eudekia’s heart and Druisius’s devotion, the three are woven into a dangerous web of intrigue. In the span of a few weeks, Druisius must decide if his loyalty belongs to his past, or to the man who offers a future he never dared to dream of.
A stand-alone novel that is also a second entry point into the Empire’s Legacy series.
marianlthorpe.com 