Commodus: The Vengeful and the Dead is the explosive second novel in my historical fiction series on Emperor Commodus. Marcrinus has reached the Eternal City with Hulvius and his fierce sister Adrastea at his side, only to plunge headlong into Rome's blood-soaked underbelly. He must now risk everything to rescue the young slave boy Palacus and thwart the deadly schemes of Marcus Aurelius's treacherous ab epistulis, Tarruttienus, a man whose loyalty has long since turned to venom.
Meanwhile, Marcus Aurelius prepares to depart on a perilous journey through the eastern provinces to rally support for his rule. Yet what awaits him on the road threatens to shatter his throne, his marriage, and the fate of everyone who stands in his shadow.
As the empire teeters on the edge of chaos, the questions burn hotter than ever:
Will Marcrinus carve his way out of Rome's violent underworld with Palacus still breathing, or will the city swallow them both?
How much of the gathering storm will Didius Julianus-dispatched by Marcus himself-uncover before the conspiracy to overthrow the emperor claims him too?
Can Hulvius and Adrastea outrun the ghosts of their past, or will those ghosts drag them back into the abyss?
Will the cunning Saoterus finally be unmasked, or will he once again slither free of justice's grasp?
And far away in Alexandria, the tormented Lucien clings to the fragile hope that Crassius's love can mend his broken spirit-before despair becomes the only companion he has left.
In a world of shifting alliances, forbidden passions, and knives in the dark, no one is safe... and the vengeance of emperors is never gentle.
