Vita longs to write plays and poetry – but as a high-born girl in Roman Londinium, her fate is sealed: marriage and children. Then her father is murdered, her mother and brother disappear, and Vita flees from a shadowy enemy. Disguised as a slave at the gladiator's arena, she forges an unlikely bond with Brea, a native Briton gladiatrix – and her wolf. Together, they resolve to discover and bring the killer to justice before Vita's identity is revealed ...