Vulcan's City
Herculaneum
111,190 words
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Alexius returns after two years in Britannia and is stunned by the beauty of his betrothed. Now, he must scramble to regain Messalina's affections before he loses her to another if it means risking his dreams of becoming a Roman senator, his and his family’s reputation…and even his life.
As Alexius and Messalina search for Rosa, they uncover a piss pot of trouble: extortion from the imperial treasury, an assignation plot on Vespasian, infidelity and murder among the most respected families of Herculaneum. They can’t turn back on what they have found but can only turn to each other.
Because of Alexius’s willing assistance and enthusiastic support in her search for Rosa, Messalina discovers she loves Alexius and wants to spend the rest of her life with him. However, first, they must survive revenge, jealousy, and a volcanic eruption.
Once on a galley with their families struggling through the rocky waters to Misenum, Messalina and Alexius survive this horrific catastrophe that buries their beautiful city of Herculaneum for the next thousand years.
Note: I have included as many actual citizens of Herculaneum in this story that I could find: the centurion, the young slave girl holding a patrician’s baby, the man locked in the Augustales Temple’s back room, and so many more.
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