It's not long before his mission turns far graver - to stop a plot to invade and destroy Athens. With this added urgency, Nico embarks on a mission to Ephesus. His first stop: meeting with Ephesus' proxenos to Athens, who is found murdered, before Nico can question him. Along the way, Nico encounters almost every possible setback and calamity. He soon finds himself in possession of Asia, who he purchased off a slave block thinking she held a key to his mission. He learns she is the daughter of the most powerful diplomat in Ephesus, Themistocles, also the most famous traitor to Athens in recent history. On his way to return Asia, he encounters his great love Diotima, who had left him to become a priestess, but joins them on their mission. They become the toast of a banquet held by Themistocles, where the lines between loyalty and traitorousness are blurred, and the threat to Athenian democracy is again made abundantly real.