Rome, at the height of its empire. Gaius has tasted everything the city offers and found that nothing leaves a lasting imprint. Gold, land, the ear of Caesar—his life is a monument to acquisition, and his chest remains hollow. At the slave markets, he tells himself he is looking for a fragment of a world beyond Rome. What he does not admit, even in the privacy of his own mind, is that he is looking for something that will look back at him.
A story about the hunger that outlives its feeding, and the terrible bargain we make when we mistake possession for love.