The Last Falconer of Byzantium

The empire is collapsing. The falcon knows it. Its master does not.In the fading days of Byzantium, Alexios Varvakis has one talent that has kept him alive at court: he knows how to train a falcon.Unfortunately, politics requires an entirely different kind of vision.As rival nobles scheme for influence, foreign ambassadors arrive with dangerous offers, and whispers of war spread through Constantinople, Alexios finds himself drawn into a maze of imperial intrigue. His prized falcon, Kyria, becomes an unexpected companion in his missions—and an inconvenient witness to secrets that powerful men would rather keep buried.Alexios believes the bird is merely trained to hunt.Then Kyria begins returning with objects that should not exist, appearing at meetings where no servant was invited, and repeatedly steering her master away from people he was foolish enough to trust.Soon, Alexios must determine which is more dangerous: the enemies gathering around Byzantium—or his own inability to recognize them.Set against the magnificent final centuries of the Byzantine world, The Last Falconer of Byzantium is a fictional tale of court intrigue, loyalty, espionage, ambition, and survival—with a remarkably judgmental bird at the center of it all.