Belshazzar

Passion and revenge play out against the fall of Babylon in the final novel from the author of the British adventure series featuring Allan Quatermain. Half-Egyptian and half-Greek, Ramose is a favorite son of the pharaoh and rises to captain of the guard. The young soldier is thrust into treachery and temptation when he loses his heart to the queen of Syria, who is savagely murdered under his watch. Forced to flee for his life with his mentor, Ramose swears before the gods to have nothing more to do with women. It is a promise that Ramose keeps—through war, peace, prosperity, and exile—until decades later. Finally returning to Egypt as a grown man, more scholar and merchant than fighter, fate once more turns the current of his life. A love unlike any he has ever known grabs hold of him. Unable to deny his heart, he breaks his vow, only to be betrayed and sent as a lamb to the slaughter. Torn from his new wife, Ramose comes face to face with the cruel, ambitious, and violent Prince Belshazzar of Babylon—and only Ramose's lust for vengeance can save him . . .