42BC

Two years on from Julius Caesar’s assassination, his successors still crave vengeance. The massed legions of Octavian and Mark Antony face off against Cassius and Brutus at Philippi.

Leading the charge for New Rome are primus pilus Titus Villius Macer and his optio, Crispus.

Their heroics come to the attention of Octavian’s spymaster, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, who recruits them for his Viper network of spies.

Their mission: Return to Titus’s native Sicilia to gather intelligence on its current ruler, Sextus Pompey.

But when Titus and Crispus arrive in Sicilia, they find much has changed while they’ve been fighting with the Fifth Legion.

The woman Titus came home to marry has grown cold and he must face up to domestic troubles while trying to help Agrippa restore Sicilia to Roman rule.

Suspecting a plot to assassinate Rome’s new rulers, Titus will face savage sea warfare against the local pirate fleet.

Can he uncover the deadly plot? Will he save another Caesar from assassination?

And can he save his family from the ravages of war?

‘Forrest has the gift of the true storyteller – an ability to engage his readers’ interest from the very first sentence’ – the late Lord Cormack, author and historian