Paris has fallen. Rome is next.
Commander Malik al-Zahir is ordered to deliver a clean conquest and a clean story. Isabella of Valois-the captured engineer who knows how to make fire-pots that crack stone-is forced onto his siege train under guard. Auditors track every order Malik gives. A death-cult slips through cordons with forged travel papers, using hunger and fear to trigger a new outbreak. If Rome ignites, thousands die. If Malik hesitates, the court destroys him. If Isabella complies, her work becomes the weapon that ends her world.
When the only way to save Rome is to betray the empire, what do they choose?