Apulum, Roman Dacia, AD 162. Beneath the fortress of Legio XIII Gemina, Aurinia lives as the wife of the Roman officer she was given to in exchange for peace.
Apulum, Roman Dacia, AD 162. Beneath the fortress of Legio XIII Gemina, Aurinia lives as the wife of the Roman officer she was given to in exchange for peace.
Her marriage has brought wealth, education, desire—and a place in a world she never expected to value. But beyond Apulum, free Germanic households still trust the treaty her marriage was meant to seal.
When Aurinia discovers that Rome is preparing to break that trust, she must choose between the husband she may still love and the people who believe she stands between them and conquest.
Her decision draws in Corvinus, an officer of the Batavian ala divided by service and birth; Albruna, a widow whose authority rests on land and kin; and Damaris, a Greek freedwoman who knows the power of keys, records, and silence.
Given for Peace is a sweeping historical novel of loyalty, desire, and survival on Rome’s Dacian frontier.\
“I will come upstairs soon,” he said. “Do not let Felix see you walking without sandals. He will decide the house is collapsing.”
He kissed her again and went toward the office, carrying her lamp. Aurinia watched until he turned the corner. Then she opened Damaris’s door.
Damaris’s room was narrow and exact: bed, two chests, writing table, capped ink, wax, three key rings. One chest bore Varro’s seal; the other had been rubbed pale where Damaris’s hand opened it. A cup stood beside the bed with wine diluted almost to water. Damaris had not finished drinking it. She stood with her tunic belt loose and her hair over one shoulder, a woman interrupted between one arrangement and the next.
She looked at Aurinia without surprise.
“Did he come to discuss accounts?” Aurinia asked.
“He discussed them.”
“That is not the whole answer.”
“No.” Damaris twisted her hair, lost the pin once, and found it under the table. She stayed crouched longer than the search required, perhaps because looking at Aurinia would begin the answer. “It is the answer I can give without describing his body to his wife.” She stood, put the pin in badly, and did not correct it.
Aurinia closed the door but did not latch it. “Do you want him?”
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About the book
Apulum, Roman Dacia, AD 162. Beneath the fortress of Legio XIII Gemina, Aurinia lives as the wife of the Roman officer she was given to in exchange for peace.
Apulum, Roman Dacia, AD 162. Beneath the fortress of Legio XIII Gemina, Aurinia lives as the wife of the Roman officer she was given to in exchange for peace.
Her marriage has brought wealth, education, desire—and a place in a world she never expected to value. But beyond Apulum, free Germanic households still trust the treaty her marriage was meant to seal.
When Aurinia discovers that Rome is preparing to break that trust, she must choose between the husband she may still love and the people who believe she stands between them and conquest.
Her decision draws in Corvinus, an officer of the Batavian ala divided by service and birth; Albruna, a widow whose authority rests on land and kin; and Damaris, a Greek freedwoman who knows the power of keys, records, and silence.
Given for Peace is a sweeping historical novel of loyalty, desire, and survival on Rome’s Dacian frontier.\
