Read Swords Around the Throne Online
Authors: Ian Ross
Swords Around the Throne (49 page)
When the king of the Picts dies in mysterious circumstances, Castus is selected to lead the Roman envoy sent to negotiate with the barbarians beyond Hadrian's Wall. Here he will face the supreme challenge of command, in a mission riven with bloodshed, treachery and tests of his honour. As he struggles to avert disaster and keep his promise to a woman he has sworn to help, Castus discovers that nothing about this doomed enterprise was ever what it seemed.
War at the Edge of the World
is available
here
.
2 â Swords Around the Throne
The second novel in this epic series, set at the end of the Roman Empire, sees a treasonous conspiracy threatening to bring down the Emperor Constantine. Only one man's courage stands between the rebels and victory.
Rewarded for saving the emperor's life in battle, centurion Aurelius Castus is promoted to the Corps of Protectores, the elite imperial bodyguard, the swords around the throne.
But he soon discovers the court to be just as hazardous as the battlefield; behind the gilded facade of empire, there are spiralling plots, murderous betrayals and dangerous seductions. And one relentless enemy.
Book 3,
The Battle for Rome
, will be released in 2017
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The story starts here.
First published in the UK in 2015 by Head of Zeus Ltd.
Copyright © Ian Ross, 2015
Author photograph: David Breckon
Jacket design: Nik Keevil
Maps © ki229 design
The moral right of Ian Ross to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.
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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN (HB) 9781784081164
ISBN (TPB) 9781784081171
ISBN (E) 97811784081157
Head of Zeus Ltd
Clerkenwell House
45-47 Clerkenwell Green
London EC1R 0HT
About the Twilight of Empire series