against her. "You will not be my slave!" he said. "But you may stay in my entourage. I will house you for the winter here, and you may stay with me as long as you wish."

"Thank you, thank you." She repeated the gibbering words many times, as if supplicating some foreign god. Judging by the desperation of her tone and the state of her body, she had been under severe duress. "You truly are different. You truly are set above..."

Claudio's soldiers took up residence throughout the city, and Claudio—with his personal bodyguard, and joined with this new girl (whose name, he soon learned, was Anthea)—took up residence in the Royal Palace. Archamenes, under the constant supervision of soldiers, was kept in the grimmest Haroon prison Claudio could find.

Andwed in 961. He was shaking, nearly convulsing, now. A legionary, or a legate, wed to a woman named Catalina. He grew nauseous.

The letter was signed:

L.V. A.

Lucento-Valens Adamantus married a woman named Catalina. No. No.

"No," he said aloud.

But it made sense. Around 975, Lucento had been stationed in Imperial City. He had dined with Bruesio... dined with the councilors. Dined with Flora.

"No," he said again, louder this time.

Their marriage had been a sham. Of all people, why Lucento? Of all people, why an Adamantus?

She would pay with her life.

## CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE:  
The Oracle of Hylea

Claudio-Valens Adamantus, Grand Legate

The skies had cleared; now, the sun shone bright against a blue sky.

Before him, down a hill, was the small settlement called Lornatium: a name Claudio had never heard before.