Showing results by narrator "Melisanthi Mavridou" in All Categories

In the ruthless world of 8th-century Constantinople, where alliances shift like the tides and betrayal lurks behind every gilded door, Irini of Athens fights to secure her place as Empress of the Byzantine Empire. But power comes at a deadly cost. Surrounded by enemies within her own palace—her scheming mother-in-law, five treacherous step-brothers, and a husband who sees her as a threat—Irini knows that survival is not guaranteed. With childbirth looming, she summons the only person she can trust: Abbess Thekla, the knife-wielding woman who owes her a life debt.

In the treacherous corridors of 8th-century Constantinople, where power is won through cunning and ambition, a young woman is destined to shape the fate of an empire. Seventeen-year-old Thekla, fierce and relentless, has been abandoned at the altar for the third time. Determined to reclaim her betrothed—or make him pay—she sets out for the imperial capital, armed only with her wits and her blade. But Constantinople is no place for the faint-hearted. Here, intrigue and betrayal lurk in every shadow, and survival demands more than mere determination.