When seventeen-year-old Fallon was ten her brave older sister was a member of their father's royal war band. Sorcha went into battle to save her king and bring her father home to care for her young sister. Fallon and her father have mourned her fallen sister in different ways: Fallon has become a fierce warrior while her father has searched for a way to keep her from his eldest daughter's fate.
The night of the tribal gathering, Fallon's father betrays her not once, but twice. The princess leaves behind the trappings of her station and tries to flee. In the midst of her escape Fallon is captured by slave traders and though she despises the captivity, the hope that she will escape to wreak vengeance drives Fallon.
As a slave Fallon meets a fierce warrior girl from the far north and the two become grudging friends. When their fighting skills are put on display in Rome Fallon and her Viking companion are bought to be female gladiators by no less than Julius Caesar's personal ludis.
The Lady Achilleas is a hard, but fair, mistress. Fallon discovers her new home's profession of sisterhood mirrors true sisterhood in not just the camaraderie, but also the vicious rivalries. At her swearing ceremony Fallon discovers her new mistress isn't so much the stranger she thought, but the sister she thought long-dead. Sorcha as Lady Achilleas tries to drill into her reluctant little sister that in Rome one must fight for what she wants in the Roman way.
The new world of gladiatrix is similar to her practice at home, but the duplicity and depravity are new for the slave princess. Someone is intent on bringing Fallon, and through her Sorscha and Caesar, down from the pedestal of power they hold over the plebeian population. Sometimes the games played with swords are the least dangerous intrigues in the world of female gladiators. Despite the constant danger, Fallon finds a new home and family.
Livingston's story looks at a curiosity of history: female gladiators were long thought to be outliers and are only recently being rediscovered and their reach studied. Fallon is a transplant from the frontier who must learn to live in a new and treacherous world while sorting out old beliefs and alliances. Her desire to make a name and place for herself wars with her relationships. Like many young women, Fallon is faced with the choice to roll with the punches (sometimes literally) or get knocked down. Either way, she always gets back to her feet to continue fighting.
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