PART ONE
Chapter 1
Autumn, A.D. 408, near Rome, Italy
The sailboat rode the chop up and down, steady in the face of chaos.
Salty mist bathed Gigi Perrin’s face as she kept watch over the bow. The skies overhead were clear and fiercely blue, reminding her of Magnus’s eyes. The wind and waves had just enough kick to make the afternoon perfect, and she sighed with contentment.
“Gigi! Gigi! Where are you?”
Gigi frowned. Her mother’s voice was frantic. Hadn’t Magnus let her parents know she was up on deck, manning the helm?
“Gigi! Where are you?”
Now her father? He sounded like he was crying! Gigi called out to them, but the wind carried her voice away. She tried to lock the wheel on autopilot, so she could go down below and reassure them everything was okay, but couldn’t find the mechanism.
A hand clamped over her mouth and a jolt of fear went straight to her gut. She let go of the wheel, wrenched away, and faced her attacker. Honorius! The boat lurched sideways with the waves and Gigi fell, Honorius landing on top of her. She struggled, which made him laugh. She tried to knee him, but he was ready and caught her leg, pinning it to one side.
No! No!
He hit her on the jaw and the pain made her mind reel with terror. They were naked, and he was pushing at her, pushing …
“No!” Gigi screamed, thrashing at her cloak. Opening her eyes, breathing hard, she looked around. Rolling hills. A sea of dying grass gently waving in the breeze. The rough bark of a tree against her back. Emperor Honorius wasn’t here. He hadn’t touched her, hadn’t been anywhere near her.
She wiped her mouth, then ran her hands over her face. Would she ever get him out of her nightmares? Would she ever be able to forgive herself for leaving her parents without a word? It hadn’t been her fault, but …
She sighed and leaned her head back, a single tear trickling down her cheek.
Time travel. Sometimes Gigi had difficulty believing it had actually happened to her. She shivered despite the sun’s warmth, wondering what it was going to be like spending a winter in ancient Italy. Living rough with the Visigoths, she’d be without all the things she’d taken for granted: central heating, modern medicine, chocolate.
But she was here. That was that. She looked at the beautiful hills again, seeking solace in the sight. Slanted sunshine, autumn’s last gift, the air scented with grass and thyme. She held her hand out and her ring caught the light, the image of the goddess Victoria shimmering, dancing.
Magnus’s ring, lost by him in battle, then found by her grandfather after 1,600 years, hers now, her wedding ring. Time travel had brought Gigi and Magnus together, the how of it unanswerable, the ring the key in some unfathomable way.
She touched her ring, recalling the past few months. Magnus. Always by her side, the only one sharing the secret of her other life. Their trek south through the rugged Apennines had been long and tiring, but they had persevered together. And now, finally, they were on the outskirts of Rome. What would happen next?
Getting up, Gigi brushed off her skirt and resettled her cloak. She looked at the jumble of buildings on the horizon. Rome. She was excited and nervous all at once, not only because she hoped to be reunited with her friend, Princess Placidia, but also because this was where the Visigoths would make a stand, perhaps the final stand against the Western Roman Empire. If all went well, they might just get land of their own, land they’d been promised by a string of emperors in return for decades of military service. More Romanized than the other so-called barbarian hordes, the Visigoths had fought with and eventually become part of the imperial legions, only to be spit upon and further abused by the Empire, until they supported open rebellion against its tyranny.
Gigi’s mind returned to that coward, Honorius, and she was relieved he was far away, hiding behind the walls of Ravenna. Nevertheless, he still lurked in her nightmares, but she would fight him there, too, determined to put an end to her bad dreams forever.
Would she be able to succeed? Gigi took a deep breath and hoped so as she walked back to the Visigoth tents. She held her hands before a campfire, enjoying the play of warmth against her fingers, her ring softly glowing. Some women sat nearby, humming as they sewed and knitted. She greeted them, and they smiled back in welcome.
There was a sudden rise in conversation and Gigi turned just as a group of six men and one woman exited King Alaric’s tent. With a gentle yet noble bearing, Queen Verica nodded to her husband and left to attend her own business. Gigi found it interesting Verica had equal standing among the men, something the Romans and their emperor disparaged as barbaric. Recalling how Honorius delighted in abusing women, Gigi knew without a shred of doubt the identity of the real barbarian.