Ilia is the last servant of a forgotten god: Knowledge, her life dedicated to the sacred texts within a secluded monastery. But when the Inquisition, zealots of an ignorant faith, arrives to burn her world, she is cast out and reborn as the Thorned God-Servant.
Her new path is one of pain and sacrifice, her very existence a thorn in the side of the empire. Protected by the stoic Praetorian, Julian, she flees with her priceless codices. The hunted scholar becomes a reluctant weapon, using ancient wisdom to arm a rebellion from the shadows. After the Inquisition's fire consumes her final sanctuary, she embraces her destiny. No longer a passive keeper of history, she becomes its agent, turning from the hunted to the hunter and setting a course for the dark heart of the empire.