Lord of Emperors

Having finally achieved his journey to fabled Sarantium, Crispin the mosaicist wants nothing more than to confront the challenges of his art high on the scaffolding of destiny-but in Sarantium no man may easily withdraw from the turmoil of court and city, or forget that the presence of the half-world is always close by. To the Imperial City there comes another voyager on a journey of self-discovery, this time from the east. Rustem of Kerakek, a physician, must find his own balancing of family and ambition, healing and death, as he, too, is drawn into the deadly webs of Sarantium.