Author Description

Some truths are worth dying for. Paulinus never wanted to be a hero. At twenty-two, he's content with his modest life as a scribe in ancient Rome, delivering messages and watching the city's greatest construction project-the Flavian Amphitheatre-take shape before his eyes. But when he discovers evidence of corruption in the amphitheatre's accounts, everything changes. The conspiracy reaches into the highest levels of Roman power, and those involved will kill to keep their secrets buried beneath the rising stone. Torn between the safety of silence and the demands of conscience, Paulinus finds unexpected allies: Gaius, his practical, working-class friend who risks everything to stand beside him; and Cassia, a woman whose family was destroyed by the same conspiracy, and who carries her own thirst for justice. As the investigation deepens, so do the dangers. Powerful senators. Ruthless enforcers. A system designed to protect the wealthy and crush the weak. Against such forces, what chance does one young man have? Yet Paulinus cannot look away. Every stone laid in the amphitheatre's walls represents both Rome's glory and its shame. Every day the conspiracy continues, more innocents suffer. And somewhere in the accounts and whispered conversations, he believes, lies the evidence that could bring the guilty to justice. A story of courage, friendship, and the price of integrity in a world built on power and blood, The Stone and the Blood asks: What would you sacrifice to do what's right?