Finally, Lucius Murena has returned to the palace. His memory is still faltering, but the drugs that Lemuria imposed on him gradually dissipate, just as Nero's doubts about his friend's involvement in the plot against him. The secret that surrounds the identity of the Hydra, this formidable warrior, however, disappoints the emperor, in the throes of increasingly frequent delusions that slowly push him to the gates of madness. The shadow of the conspiracy, which continues to spread over Rome, also helps to cause the reason of Nero to squander: while the vice tightens, the latter offers Tigellin, his ambitious sbire, the full powers. Coined between a possessive woman and an emperor who is likely to doubt again about his sincerity, will Murena take the right decisions? A disturbing twelfth volume, in which the action and delation are queens, sublimated by a sharp and precise trait.