Leonidas, a freed gladiator in Nero's Rome, is coerced into a dice game with a stranger at his local popina–who turns out to not be such a stranger after all. The man’s presence puts all around him in danger, and Leonidas struggles to keep the man's identity secret. Leonidas has no wish to be caught up in this trouble–he’s about to begin working as a builder, his ticket out of his life as a gladiator and bodyguard. But the next morning at the building site, Leonidas almost immediately stumbles across a valuable ring buried in the mud, a ring that has the potential to change the destiny of Rome. Nero commands Leonidas and Cassia to uncover everything about this ring, including who owned it and how it had come to be where it was found. They are not allowed to fail. The ring proves to be only the tip of the troubles Leonidas uncovers, with connections from the Emporium to the Esquiline, and danger that visits Leonidas and Cassia very close to home.