The renowned historian Jonathan Harris crosses the genre boundary to explore his period through fiction, in a novel about an Emperor's personal worldview... Constantinople 1024: few people can remember a time before Basil II. The emperor has ruled for nearly fifty years, has never married and has no children. He scorns the opulent vestments that go with his rank and delegates his ceremonial duties to his indolent brother. He is more feared than loved and is merciless and vindictive to his enemies. No one dares to challenge his power, for he leads his armies to war in person, rather than leaving it to his generals. He has no counsellors, takes no advice and knows everything that goes on in his empire. That at least is what they say in the streets. But this is a world where nothing is ever quite as it seems.