Some secrets are best left buried.

323 B.C., Babylon

King Alexander the Great has died and his blood-thirsty generals quarrel for the pieces of a vast empire. But captain Deon has other worries— a vicious lender will sell his family to slavery if he does not clear his debt. Desperate, he accepts a mission from Alexander’s wily secretary in return for a substantial reward.

But nothing is as it seems in the murky and dangerous waters of succession. Deceived and threatened, Deon faces an agonizing choice: earn his family’s freedom by embarking on a perilous journey that can alter the balance of powers fighting for Alexander’s throne, or refuse and let his loved ones die in Nubia’s brutal gold mines.

Assisted by a companion as skilled in languages as she is with a dagger, and pursued by forces that will stop at nothing, Deon must cross violent lands to find an astonishing mystery hidden for a thousand years. And the more he learns, the more he realizes that his actions will decide the life and death of not only his loved ones but also that of millions of innocents.