“I love you, Antonia. You brought the light back into my world.”
In the last glowing rays of the sun as it sank beneath the far horizon, he saw the shimmer of tears in her beautiful eyes.
“And I love you, Gawain.” Her whisper sank into his soul, a healing balm. “You and Cassia are my world.”
Epilogue
Two Weeks Later, Londinium
Gawain stood at the dockside beside Antonia as the passengers on the ship bringing her daughter disembarked.
Since that night at the crossroads, he’d spread the word that he would lead any displaced Celt back to Cymru. Several of the Druids he’d met through Rhys had come forward. By the end of this week, they would return to their homeland.
The queen, along with several of her Druids, had decided to accompany them. With her connection to Carys, who had helped avert genocide, and Maximus, whose name carried great weight in the Roman world, they would receive due respect from the invaders when they returned as the exiled rulers.
Gawain caught the stony glare of Antonia’s adoptive father as he stood on the other side of her. The older man didn’t approve of either Gawain or their plans to move to Cymru. But he had given his daughter his blessing. And intended to join them in their new life.
He looked at Antonia. There was an aura of excitement surrounding her, of anticipation and relief but threaded through there was also a tremor of fear.
Will Cassia still remember me? Her whisper from last night haunted him.
He disregarded Roman protocol and threaded his fingers through hers. Her hand was chilled but she turned to look at him, and the love in her eyes stilled the breath in his throat.
Tomorrow this woman would be his wife in the eyes of Rome. But she was already his wife in his heart, where it truly mattered.
An elderly couple emerged from the crowds and Antonia stiffened. The old woman held a small child, a replica of Antonia in miniature. The baby caught sight of them and a smile illuminated her face.
“She remembers you, my sweet Antonia.” He squeezed her fingers and she laughed, and finally the last shadow died from the depths of her eyes.
Together, they went to greet their daughter.
***
Thank you for reading Tainted. I hope you enjoyed it!
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Forged in blood, United by Passion
The Highland Warrior Chronicles
Book 1 – Her Savage Scot
He’s the only man she wants, and the one she can never have…
When tough Scot warrior Connor MacKenzie rides into the barbaric lands of the Picts on a mission for his king, he never expects to be captivated by a beautiful Pictish widow. Drawn under her spell, yet unaware of her true identity, he risks everything for one passionate night in her arms.
Aila, princess of Pictland, swore, after her husband died, that she would never marry again. But after meeting Connor, her frozen heart thaws and once again she imagines a future filled with love and passion.
When Connor delivers the message from his king, Aila becomes a pawn in a deadly game of politics. Her heart belongs to Connor, but she must marry the prince of Dal Riada – Connor’s half-brother. But the fates have other plans for the star-crossed lovers as they fight their enemies and themselves to find true love.
About the Author
Christina Phillips is an ex-pat Brit who now lives in sunny Western Australia with her high school sweetheart and their family. She enjoys writing paranormal, historical and contemporary romance where the stories sizzle and the heroine brings her hero to his knees.
She is addicted to good coffee, expensive chocolate and bad boy heroes. She is also owned by three gorgeous cats who are convinced the universe revolves around their needs. They are not wrong.
Author’s Note
During the first century AD, the languages used in Britain were Brythonic by the native tribal peoples and Latin by the Roman invaders. In The Druid Chronicles I’ve used words not in common usage in the English language until the 1500s and later, on the reasoning these people had words of similar meaning in their own languages at that time. It was likely the Romans who called the ancient peoples of Europe and Britain Celts. They would have called themselves by their own tribal names. For clarity, I have taken the liberty of using the term “Celt” in reference to the ancient tribal peoples of Cymru as a whole.
Have you read the other books in my hot historical romance series, The Druid Chronicles? Set in 1st century Britain these books feature sexy warriors and magical Druid heroines.
Forbidden
Book 1
He was a master of seduction – but no match for the magical allure of the woman he wanted most…
Carys knew from the moment she first spied on Maximus in his naked barbarian glory that he was a dangerous Roman centurion – his taut, battle-scarred flesh marking him as a fearless warrior. But her desire for him was as undeniable as it was illicit.
Charged by his emperor to eliminate a clan of powerful Druids in Britain, Maximus never expects his mission to be thwarted by the clan’s ethereal princess, Carys, his daring voyeur. Falling under her spell, he doesn’t realize her true heritage – until he captures her heart as well as her body.
As Carys’ loyalties are twisted, and freedom is no longer her single-minded obsession, an avenging former lover threatens to crush Maximus’ people into oblivion. Now Carys and Maximus must overcome the devastation of war and face the ultimate sacrifice if their forbidden love is to survive.
*
Captive
Book 2
A Druid priestess falls for the wrong man – the warrior who’s taken her prisoner…
Hungry for revenge, Druid acolyte Morwyn turns her back on her goddess and vows to fight the Roman invaders. But before she can join up with the rebels, she’s captured by a tough Gaul mercenary.
Bren, pledged to the true Briton king, has spent three years undercover in the Roman Legion. When his own unit attacks a fiery Celtic beauty, he saves her the only way he can – by claiming her as his prisoner. He knows he can’t trust her but, as her icy disdain thaws, her quick wit and infectious laugh lighten his blackened soul and he craves for the chance of a normal life–with her.
Infuriated yet intrigued by her captor, Morwyn can’t help falling for his gruff charms and rare smile. He’s her enemy but he has honor and the longer they’re together the less she believes in his brutal reputation. He’s her Gaul, and in the black of night, in his arms, she dreams of a future together.
But the wrath of a spurned goddess echoes through the land and Morwyn and Bren need to overcome their past, put their trust in each other and face their deepest fears for the chance to survive in a fractured world.
*
Enslaved
Book 3
When a Druid priestess falls for her Roman captor she’s torn between her duty to her goddess and her love for the enemy…
When Druid priestess Nimue is injured and enslaved by the hated Roman Legion she’s determined to escape and complete her covert mission for her beloved goddess, to eradicate the invaders from her land.
But the tough warrior who captures her is far from the brutal barbarian she expects. Instead, Tacitus turns all her prejudices inside out, and it’s hard to remember he’s her enemy when she craves his touch more than her next breath. Her first loyalty is to her goddess, and she can’t afford to forget it.
Tacitus is enchanted by the fiery beauty who shows no fear and challenges him at every turn. Though enslaving her goes against his heart, it’s the only way he can protect her. As a fragile trust grows between them, he believes they can have a future together. But when he discovers the depth of her betrayal, his loyalties ar
e torn between his heritage and a woman who could destroy everything he’s ever believed in.
*
Tainted
Book 4
A dangerous love Rome will never allow…
Driven by the knowledge he failed to protect his king, Druid warrior Gawain abandons his gods and vows to destroy the Roman invaders by any means possible.
Nothing and no one is more important than protecting his fellow Druids from the enemy until he meets the beautiful Roman patrician, Antonia. She is everything he’s never wanted in a woman, yet she fascinates him like no other. Despite the danger of discovery he embarks on an illicit liaison with her, determined to uncover the reason for the infinite sorrow that haunts her eyes.
Newly arrived in Britannia from Rome, Antonia is inexplicably drawn to the cold, tough Celt. His touch stirs a passion she long thought died at the hands of her brutal former husband and his unexpected tenderness thaws her frozen heart. But she hides a deadly secret that could be her undoing, and knows her growing feelings for him can lead nowhere. Yet when a shadow from her past threatens her future Antonia is torn between the Empire of her birth and betraying Gawain, the man she’s grown to love.
Amazon Buy Links:
Forbidden | Captive | Enslaved | Tainted
Behind the scenes: Gods & Goddesses
Tainted (The Druid Chronicles Book 4) Page 28
