Irini is an orphan raised by her powerful military uncle in Athens. Thekla’s family was displaced by the frontier wars. They both leave home for Constantinople, the seat of the Roman Empire of the East, and arrive on the same fateful day. When their widely divergent paths meet in this vigorous city rocked by religious and political strife, they join forces to survive. But are their sharp wits and Thekla’s knife enough to help them survive the dangers and adventures of the empire and the city that are very much a man’s world?