Sebastos Pantera, known to his many enemies as the Leopard, is the spy the Emperor Nero uses only for the most challenging and important of missions. Hunting alone, trusting no-one, he must find the most dangerous man in Rome's empire and bring him to bloody justice. But his prey is cunning, subtle and ruthless.

They are known as the Legion of the Damned. Throughout the Roman Army, the Twelth Legion is notorious for its ill fortune. It faces the harshest of postings, the toughest of campaigns, the most vicious of opponents. For one young man, Demalion of Macedon, joining it will be a baptism of fire.

Rome: AD69, The Year of the Four Emperors. Three Emperors have ruled in Rome this year and a fourth, Vespasian, has been named in the East. As the legions march toward civil war, Sebastos Pantera, the spy whose name means leopard, returns to Rome intent on bribery, blackmail and persuasion: whatever it takes to bring the commanders and their men to Vespasian's side. But in Rome, as he uses every skill he has ever learned of subterfuge, codes and camouflage, it becomes clear that one of those closest to him is a traitor, who will let Rome fall to destroy him. Together the two spies spin a web...