Rome is in peril... The old order is changing. Centurion Aurelius Castus has been summoned back from Britain to find himself caught up in a treasonous conspiracy threatening to bring down the Emperor Constantine. Rewarded for saving the emperor's life, Castus is promoted to the elite imperial bodyguard: the swords around the throne. But he soon discovers the court to be as dangerous as the battlefield.
The third novel in Annie Murray's "Birmingham" series. While Genie's father is away fighting in World War II, her mother has a ruinous affair which leaves her pregnant; Genie's little brother leaves, never to return; while Genie herself meets a man who then disappears to war.