579 BC. When King Lucomo, first of the Tarquins, is brutally murdered by hired assassins, his adopted son Servius takes the throne without the approval of the senate. The assassins are executed but not before one of them lays a curse upon the family, a curse that will threaten the very future of the Tarquin dynasty.
As the years pass, Servius earns the senate’s trust to become a loved and respected king, but his success breeds fierce discontent in the heart of Lucius Tarquinius, Lucomo’s grandson.
Determined to do whatever it takes to become king, Lucius and his ambitious wife Lolly embark on a bloody path that will lead to blood being shed on the very steps of the senate. Lucius is now King of Rome. He would be happy were it not for a Sibyline prophecy which has predicted the fall of the Tarquins and all Lucius holds most dear.
Is the future already set? Or can Lucius defy the prophecy and secure the throne of Rome for the Tarquin dynasty forever?
Rome has a new hero, but he may prove to be her greatest enemy yet.
Tarquin the Proud has been banished from Rome and the people have begun building their new republic. But there is still a great divide between the patricians and the plebeians, and tensions swiftly begin to run high.
It seems that only a hero can unite the two factions.Rome finds her hero in the form of Caius Marcius, a scion of a great Roman family descended from kings. Time after time, Caius proves himself in battle, strengthening Rome’s power and expanding her borders while assuring himself of his own superiority, both on the battlefield and in Rome.
But Rome has already suffered under a proud ruler and they don’t want another. The people exiled a king; they can certainly banish a proud and arrogant young man.
But Caius Marcius will not go meekly to his fate. Cast out from his birthplace, separated from his family, Caius plots his revenge on Rome.