The Apprentice

The Halls of the Shadow King: The Apprentice (Book One)

When faith meets extraordinary power, empires tremble.

Amal never wanted to be special. As an orphaned street thief in third-century Syria, his only goal was keeping himself and his younger sister Neffie alive in a world that had shown them nothing but cruelty. But when slave traders secretly capture her, Amal discovers he possesses a gift that defies explanation—the ability to reshape reality itself, turning enemies into allies and making the impossible seem inevitable.

His dramatic rescue of many dozens of enslaved children catches the attention of the Shadow King, the mysterious leader of a vast network protecting the adherents of The Way throughout the Roman Empire. As Emperor Valerian launches the most systematic persecution in their history, methodically hunting down bishops and believers with terrifying efficiency, Amal finds himself recruited for an impossible mission: infiltrate the heart of Rome itself and influence the mind of the most powerful man in the known world.