In 109 BC, the Roman Republic stands on a knife's edge. While the legions of Marcus Junius Silanus march north to face a terrifying Germanic wildfire, a different kind of war is being fought in the shadows of the Subura.Lucius Cornelius Sulla is a man with a legendary name and an empty purse, living among actors and outcasts. But a series of dark events is about to change the course of Roman history. From a clandestine scandal involving the daughter of the Julii to a lethal fever that sweeps through his own household, Sulla finds himself at the center of a sudden, blood-stained transformation.