A common woman. The governor she married. The king who loved them both. Welcome to the empire of gods and men—and the one queen destined to rule them all. Babylonia across the centuries has become the embodiment of lust, excess, and dissolute power. In this world you had to kill to be king. Or, in the case of Semiramis, an orphan raised on the outskirts of the empire: Queen. Nothing about Semiramis’s upbringing could have foretold her legacy. But when she meets a young representative of the new Assyrian king, a prophecy unfolds before her, one that puts her in the center of a brutal world and in the hearts of two men. Caught in the politics and viciousness of ancient Assyria, Semiramis trains in war and diplomacy. And with each move, she rises in rank, embroiled in a game of power, desire, love, and betrayal, until she can ascend to the only position that will ever keep her safe. In her second novel, Costanza Casati brilliantly weaves myth and ancient history together to give Semiramis, the only female ruler of the Assyrian Empire, a voice, charting her captivating ascent to a throne no one promised her.