On the wedding day of Emperor Claudius to Agrippina, a senator lies dying in his own home. Yesterday, this senator was betrothed to Octavia, Claudius's daughter. Now blood gushes from his slit wrists. Agrippina's elevation to empress changes so many things. Claudius is convinced to adopt her thirteen-year-old son Nero, naming him his new heir. And those angered by his wife's presumption? They face dashed hopes, endure terrible accusations, or suffer a merciless death. Yet Nero - still a boy - is vulnerable. Tutored by Seneca, he vies with his brother and fellow heir Britannicus for their father's favour. He learns to fight. He learns to love. So what if his mother wants him to marry his sister-cousin Octavia? Rome has been scandalised before. But those who have survived Agrippina, and the families of those who didn't, have long memories and short knives. They seek chances to get close - to taste the blood of this ruthless plotter and her son. Rome has always been dangerous. To rise there, as Nero is to discover, others must fall - even emperors.