Beneath the Laurel Crown

Antonia never asked to wake up in Ancient Rome with a foreign name on her tongue-or to become the Emperor's healer. One day she's a modern-day pharmacist and now she's trapped in a world where medicine is primitive, politics are deadly, and her knowledge makes her both invaluable and a threat.

When the Emperor falls gravely ill, her skills may be the only thing that can save him. But palace walls are thick with secrets, and one misstep could cost her everything. Worse still, the original owner of her body wants it back-and she's growing meaner by the day.

Caught between powerful enemies, a vengeful spirit, and an Emperor who seems far too curious about her past, Antonia must survive long enough to find her way home-or risk losing herself in a world that was never hers to begin with.

• • •

"If the gods wished to speak," he said at last, addressing the entire banquet, "they would not whisper through the hands of a servant. They would speak to me."

His voice rang clear, slicing through the lingering unease like a blade. Some nobles nodded. Others shifted uncomfortably.

Then, with the ghost of a smirk, the emperor lifted his goblet. "A toast," he declared, raising it high. "To Rome. And to men, not omens, shaping its future."

The hall hesitated-but only for a moment. Then, as if shaking off a spell, goblets were lifted, voices murmured their agreement, and the banquet resumed.

But I did not move. I could not. Because as the emperor took his first sip of wine, his gaze flickered-just for an instant-toward the door where the Augur had vanished.

And though his smirk remained, there was something else in his eyes.

Something that told me the omen had not been ignored.

Not truly.