The Emperor's Daughter
Aurelia hates the arena. She hates the gladiators, she hates the animal fights, the blood, the guts, the glory. She avoids the violence by staying away from the Colosseum until the day she decides to try and save a few lives from dying in the arena. It's there that she meets Caius.
Caius loves the arena. As a gladiator he loves the cutthroat challenge of it, the comradeship of the men, the honor of fighting for his country. His desire is to fight as long as he can and when he has nothing else to offer, to go out in a blaze of glory under the open sky of the arena. It's there that he meets Aurelia.
When Caius is assigned to be Aurelia's new guard, he's more than distraught about no longer being a gladiator. Aurelia isn't too fond of the idea either considering the giant of a man represents everything she dislikes about the gladiator fights. When Venus' wind grazes both of them and disdain turns to desire, both find arrangement rather to their benefit. A romance between a gladiator and an emperor's daughter is no match for marriage though, putting them both at risk when Venus pulls them together. Doomed from the start Caius and Aurelia will have to decide just how much they're willing to risk and just which door they're willing to walk through to find what they desire on the other side.
