adorablyloved
In 14th century Byzantine, Bartolomea Acciaioli lives a life carved from silence, silk and sorrow. Born into nobility but bound by duty, she longs for freedom, love, and the warmth of a world beyond palace walls. When Georgios Phokas - her childhood love and forbidden flame - returns from war, their reunion sparks a fragile hope. But fate, politics, and plague conspire to tear them apart.
As the empire crumbles and her family fractures, Bartolomea is forced into a marriage that feels more like a funeral. Her body becomes a battleground, her voice a ghost, and her soul a prayer whispered into the dark. Through letters, visions, and the quiet ache of a memory. Bartolomea clings to the love that once saved her - and the child that may never be born.
A Byzantine Sacrifice is a tragic, spiritual, and emotionally devastating tale of forbidden love, martyrdom, and the quiet strength of a woman who was never meant to survive- but she did, until she couldn't.