BEYOND THE LAST ROAD

Beyond the Last Road

At the northern edge of the Roman world, the road ends-and so does the certainty of empire.

Marcus Aquila has spent years serving Rome, believing that duty, discipline and obedience can give order to a brutal world. But beyond the last forts of Britannia, among the forests and glens Rome has yet to conquer, he encounters a people who refuse to become another line in an imperial report.

When a Roman operation ends in bloodshed, Marcus is forced to confront a truth his commanders would rather bury. Orders have been obeyed. Records have been altered. The dead have become numbers. And somewhere between what happened and what Rome chooses to remember, Marcus must decide what kind of man he is prepared to become.

Among the Caledonians, Mora has reasons of her own to distrust him. Her people have learned that Roman promises are usually followed by soldiers, roads and graves. Yet as violence closes around them, enemies become uneasy allies and loyalty begins to matter more than allegiance.

Caught between soldiers who are not monsters, tribes who are not savages, and leaders on both sides struggling to protect what remains, Marcus discovers that rebellion and obedience are rarely as simple as Rome would have them appear.

To survive, he may have to abandon more than the eagle he once followed.

He may have to reclaim the man he was before Rome gave him another name.

Set in Roman Britain and the unconquered north, Beyond the Last Road is a sweeping historical novel of loyalty, identity, resistance and the human cost of empire-where history belongs not only to those who conquer, but to those who refuse to disappear.

Perfect for readers who enjoy character-driven historical fiction, morally complex conflicts and the brutal frontier worlds of authors such as Bernard Cornwell.