In a universe where the Roman Empire reached the stars, one boy holds the key to humanity's freedom - or its enslavement. Kaeso Aemilius thought he'd left his past behind. As captain of the interstellar freighter Caduceus, he's carved out a life of smuggling and small-time jobs on the fringes of the Roman Republic. But when a routine mission goes sideways, Kaeso is thrust back into a world he'd sworn to forget. The Consular Heir is missing, and the Republic blames its greatest rival, Libertus. As a former elite agent of Libertus in the secretive Umbra Corps, Kaeso is uniquely qualified for the most important manhunt in history. There's just one problem: he wants nothing to do with it. Forced to choose between his loyal crew and the shadows of his past, Kaeso must navigate a conspiracy that spans empires. Every power in known space is hunting the heir, and the technology that set Roma apart for a millennium may be its undoing. From the glittering spires of Terra to the war-torn outskirts of the Republic, Kaeso and his ragtag crew race against time. But as ancient secrets unravel and long-buried truths come to light, Kaeso realizes that finding the heir is only the beginning. The very fate of humanity hangs in the balance, and the price of failure is extinction. With pulse-pounding action, intricate world building, and twists that will leave you breathless, Muses of Roma is an epic start to the Codex Antonius series, a saga that reimagines history and catapults readers into a richly-imagined future where ancient empires wage war among the stars Perfect for fans of Dune, Foundation, and Ancillary Justice, this gripping space opera blends the best of science fiction and alternate history into an adventure you won't be able to put down. Rob Steiner is author of the alt-history/space opera Codex Antonius series ( Muses of Roma , Muses of Terra , and Muses of the Republic ) about a Roman Empire that spawns an interstellar civilization. Rob also wrote the Journals of Natta Magus series, about a wizard from an alternate twenty-first century who is stranded in Augustan Rome. Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show featured two stories about Natta Magus: "The Oath-Breaker's Daemon" and "The Cloaca Maxima." Rob lives in Georgia with his wife, daughter, and a rascal cat.