Egypt, 48 BC. Gordianus travels to Alexandria with Bethesda while the Roman civil war follows Pompey and Caesar into the eastern Mediterranean. The city is divided by the dynastic struggle between Cleopatra and her brother Ptolemy XIII, and Caesar’s arrival turns a local succession crisis into part of Rome’s wider conflict. Gordianus becomes entangled in court intrigue, murder and the danger surrounding Caesar’s presence in Egypt, while his private concern for Bethesda intersects with the fate of Rome’s most powerful men.