Celtic warrior blood flowed in her veins, but as a gladiatrix-slave in Londinium's arena, Rhyddes was nothing more than a wild thing in a gilded cage. Yet though her Roman masters owned her body, she swore that noone would claim her soul. How was it, then, that Marcus Calpurnius Aquila, noble son of the Roman governor, could make her yearn for things beyond her reach?

Famed as "The Eagle," Aquila preferred the purity of combat on the amphitheater sands to the sinister intrigues of imperial politics -- and the raw power and grace of the flame-haired Rhyddes to the simpering wiles of Rome's noblewomen. And when dark designs for powers threaten to ensnare the two of them in a plot to overthrow Caesar himself, Aquila must choose between the Celtic slave who has won his heart . . . and the empire to which they both owe allegiance.