The Eunuch’s Ring By Richard Blake

Benevento, AD 619: A Spy’s Game in a Losing Empire

Who butchered Tubby Quintus in Rodi’s bed?

Not Rodi himself – the Byzantine Empire’s youngest spy in the West was in another bed when it happened.

Was it Aripert, the vicious and expendable brother of the Lombard King?

Was it Gisulf, the Duke’s pretty but manipulative and no less expendable nephew?

Was it the Duchess – half-drunken, half-shifty regent of Benevento in her husband’s unexplained absence?

Or Clementian, her cadaverous steward and trusted “adviser”?

So long as he can avoid being hanged at the demand of everyone who matters, none of this, strictly speaking, is Rodi’s concern.

But murder after murder follows inside the palace. Beyond the crumbling city walls, an army of unknown provenance is burning and slaughtering its way through central Italy – headed for Benevento. Assassins are on the prowl for Rodi. A signet ring has vanished from the Exarch of Ravenna’s hand.

Since all these facts may be connected, Rodi has no choice but to stay put and investigate.