When Decius, the highborn commander of the local vigils of Rome, investigates the garroting of a lowly ex-slaved and the disembowelment of a foreign merchant, he uncovers a world of corruption at the highest levels of his government.

The streets of Rome were flooded with the blood of murdered citizens. Decius Caecilius Metellus the Younger was convinced a conspiracy existed to overthrow the government, one that could only be destroyed from within.