The deities of ancient Rome have been busy over the last millennium, knocking boots with lowly mortals and partying Bacchanal-style. Their descendants rule over a 14th-century empire recovering from the Black Death's devastation. But one idiot on the Pantheon has decided now's the time to break the sacred covenant: no human sacrifices. The gods discover too late that the abused and starving populace isn't in a forgiving mood.
Helen—a lazy, hedonistic fire goddess hiding from her past—rules over a mountain hamlet in the middle of nowhere, oblivious to the brewing revolt. Suffering from endless ennui, she spends her days drinking, cavorting with strumpets, and breaking the holy vows of every priest the Monastery sends her way. That is until the Monastery assigns her Julius Grimble, a celibate priest who treats her every seduction attempt as a test of his unwavering fealty to her.
When the mortals' revolution spills over into her domain, Helen loses the entirety of her tributes and her fire power is reduced to that of a glorified matchstick. Julius aids her escape, and she's forced to depend on her naïvely zealous priest to evade Rome's ex-archpriest and his vicious Praetorians as they hunt down every last god.
All Helen needs is to survive until the next Festum Altaria, when Julius can restore her divine power. But as Julius unearths the gods' most scandalous secrets, his fealty to the fire goddess wavers. To keep her head, Helen must convince her shocked and appalled priest why she's worth saving.
A heavy silence drones throughout the Basilica of the Holy Roman Pantheon. The breaths of tens of thousands of mortals lie trapped within their throats—as though one careless exhale could topple the course of history.
