Firebird

Born a white dragon, Medusa becomes a priestess of Minerva, the goddess of war and wisdom. Known for her beauty and compassion, Medusa devotes herself to the temple and serves the goddess faithfully.

One day, Neptune sees Medusa walking along the shore. Entranced by her beauty, he follows her into the temple and rapes her on Minerva’s altar. He leaves her bleeding and weeping.

Two fellow priestesses discover Medusa and cry at her side. Because Medusa has lost her virginity, the temple will cast her out and strip her of her title. Their cries reach Minerva, who descends in fury.

Minerva rejects the idea of silence and shame for Medusa. Instead, she grants Medusa the gift of sorcery: the ability to force her enemies to feel pain, sorrow, and fear. She gives the second priestess a siren’s voice (any man whose blood she tastes falls under her control). To the third, Minerva bestows Charon’s kiss (her lips bring death to corrupt men). Minerva declares that only evil men will suffer from these powers and gives them the mission of seeking these men out.

Medusa asks when their mission ends. Minerva answers: only when no evil man remains on Earth. The three priestesses carry out their divine task. When they die, Pluto welcomes them to the Underworld, but their powers return to the mortal realm, passed from woman to woman, generation after generation.

In Dacia, sisters Malina and Lela Bihari travel with their caravan through the Southern Carpathians, performing in villages to earn money for winter. Before a show, Lela helps Malina prepare when Jardani, Lela’s fiancé, warns that Roman soldiers are in the audience, one of them a centurion.

Jardani urges them to cut the show short and return to the previous camp. Malina refuses. As the final performers, they cannot flee without drawing attention. Lela asks Malina to use her empathic magic to “feel” the Romans’ emotions, but Malina senses no threat, even from the centurion.

The twins Kizzy and Kostanya begin the dance. Lela joins next, and then Malina takes the stage. When the centurion looks at her with fire-gold eyes, she nearly forgets her routine. Regaining focus, she performs daring moves despite Lela’s warning. The crowd erupts in applause. The centurion tosses her a coin and meets her gaze.

Lela scolds Malina for taking risks. Malina sneaks away to examine the coin and discovers it is gold, a rare aureus. One side shows a temple, the other a goddess. The centurion (later revealed to be Julian) appears. He promises he means no harm and insists the coin is special.

Julian claims the goddess Lady Fortuna led him to give the coin to Malina. It belonged to his mother, passed down to her from his father. Julian calls Malina “firebird” and wishes her well.

Four years later, Julian, now Legatus Julianus, surveys a battlefield in Gaul. His forces destroyed a tribe of Celts, and he notes that the enemy king’s death spares the need for public execution. Julian hears his soldiers rounding up survivors to be sold and enslaved.

He confers with Trajan, his tribune, who appears in half-skin dragon form, an enormous, terrifying hybrid. Julian recalls how the emperor killed his predecessor, Bastius, for failing to defeat these Celts. At a banquet, the emperor gutted him with his own sword and promoted Julian on the spot.

Suddenly, Julian hears a woman scream. He rushes toward the sound, angry that his soldiers disobeyed his orders not to hurt the prisoners. He finds Silvanus, a Griseo dragon, threatening a disheveled woman.

Julian reminds Silvanus that prisoners belong to the emperor. Damaging them lowers their value. He orders Trajan to shackle Silvanus. Then Julian recognizes Malina.

His dragon stirs. Without warning, Julian transforms and snaps Silvanus in half. He grabs Malina and takes flight.

Trapped in his talons, Malina realizes the red dragon is Julian, the centurion from years ago. She remembers her grandmother’s words, that she and her sisters will save their people, but feels hopeless. She believes Julian plans to kill her.

Clutching the aureus coin he gave her all those years ago, she relives the night Roman soldiers slaughtered her family. She tries to throw the coin away, but Julian’s claws pin her.

As they descend, she sees Rome glittering beneath them. Julian lands on a terrace and shifts back to his human form. Malina considers fleeing, but an older man, Ruskus, limps over and warns her not to try. He leads her inside to prepare her to meet “the master.”

Ruskus, an enslaved Thracian, shows Malina to a private room. She is surprised by its size and the books lining the shelves. Red dragon symbols mark the household’s ties to House Ignis.

She washes and changes into clean clothes and then Ruskus leads her to Julian’s bedroom. Julian dismisses Ruskus and greets Malina by name. He heard Lela speak it long ago. He questions Malina about her time with the Celts.

She reveals her empathic magic, the power to manipulate emotions by establishing “tethers” to another person. She used it for the Celts, to make Roman soldiers feel hopelessness and fear, forcing them to desert. Julian warns her not to use it on him. He names Malina as his “body slave,” tasked with fulfilling his personal needs.

Later, as Julian guides her back to her room, he notices the aureus still around her neck. He says Lady Fortuna favors her. Malina disagrees, claiming the goddess hates her. Julian reminds her she would have died without him.

Malina wakes to find a young boy, Stefanos, watching her. He wears a collar engraved with Julian’s name, and a scar across his throat hints at past violence. He gives her shoes and then brings her to Kara in the kitchen, who instructs her on household duties.

Malina learns there are five enslaved people in Julian’s house: Kara, Ruskus, Stefanos, Ivo the stablemaster, and herself. Ruskus brings Malina a collar with Julian’s name on it and tells her to remove the aureus. She refuses.

Malina delivers Julian’s breakfast. He tolerates her questions in private but reminds her to act obediently in public. She begs him to buy Enid, a Celtic woman who once protected her. At first, he refuses, but he relents when she promises to explain more about her power.

Julian takes Malina to the Roman market. On the way, they pass the Wall of Victory, where Julian’s uncle, Emperor Igniculus, otherwise known as Caesar, displays the severed heads of conquered kings. Opposite stands the Wall of Traitors, where he hangs Romans who betray him, many still half-shifted into dragon form.

They visit Menteo at the market to see about purchasing Enid. Julian becomes furious when he sees that prisoners are injured or missing. He insists on buying Enid despite her age and wounds, claiming she holds valuable information about other tribes.

On their way home, Julian hears news that his rival, Cyprian, executed a Thracian general. Julian meets with Trajan to discuss politics, including a new law forbidding enslaved people from marrying.

Their meeting ends when Malina screams. A soldier grabs her, and Julian nearly loses control. Trajan restrains him. Julian carries Enid back home with Malina trailing behind.