The Sultan is dying. His three sons are locked in a battle of intrigue and assassination plots, each vying to succeed him and become guardian of the Secret of Secrets. Religious conflicts rock the Kara-ul Empire and civil war looms as the subjugated Idel tribes riot in their slums. An empire can survive civil war, but will it survive the emergence of its secret? Orhan seeks nothing more than to escape his bleak life in the Idel slums. A grave robber, selling artifacts to a heretical Kara-ul noble, he discovers a tomb and steals a book from a sleeping God's warm fingers. He is followed by a feminine voice with a lavender scent who says his blood isn't pure enough to be the Rose. But Orhan is already on The Path of the Rose: a course of learning followed by ancient Idel kings. Amidst a corrupt society that has forgotten the hallowed ideals of its past, he begins to understand the potency of a people yearning to be loosed from their bondage. He struggles to come to terms with the role he represents, the power he is gaining, and the growing realization he may be more than the Secret of Secrets. Path of the Rose is the first novel in the Golden Dawn series.