Marcus has a taste for the finer things. In second century Rome, that means extensive banquets, endless goblets of wine and multiple lovers of all genders and social classes. The good life comes to a crashing halt when his mother remarries a powerful senator with a desire to groom Marcus to be the son and heir he never had.Consigned to the furthest outreaches of the Empire, Marcus has more than a lack of entertainment to worry about. Since childhood, he has been hiding a socially crippling disease, a curse from the gods. For years, he has been treating it with aniseed, but aniseed is in short supply in the frosty outposts along Hadrian's Wall in northern Britannia. When disaster strikes, Marcus receives unexpected help from a truly unexpected source.