Brother of a Fallen Gladiator

In AD 64, champion gladiator Leonidas, newly freed from the games, faces the corruption of Ancient Rome with the scribe Cassia at his side.

He is certain that Xerxes, the fellow gladiator and closest friend he thought dead, is alive and well in the streets.

The sighting comes during Lemuria, when malevolent spirits must be appeased, so the figure may instead be a ghost following Leonidas for reasons of its own.

His search exposes parts of Xerxes's past he would rather not know, and those secrets put both him and Cassia in danger now.

Leonidas is left unsure whether he ever truly knew his friend, or how terrible the truths still ahead may be.