Honor Bound (Light in the Empire)

By Carol Ashby

Description:

Honor had forced him to act. Time would tell if he’d regret it.

Marcus Brutus owns estates, ships, and gladiator schools that increase his fortune daily, but his greatest treasures are his honor and his wife. When she reveals her faith in Jesus before dying after the birth of their son, he’s consumed by hatred for the unnamed Christian woman who led his beloved to abandon the Roman gods, making him lose her in this life and the next.

For fifteen years, Licinia’s father hid her Christian faith. But now her father is dead, and a ruthless political enemy is hunting for anything to destroy her brother. When she becomes the target, her brother sends her to their estate in Germania. But is that far enough to protect her from an evil man who will stop at nothing?

A carriage accident leaves Brutus injured and his best friend near death, and Licinia cares for them. When her brother's enemies come and he learns she’s the Christian who corrupted his wife, does honor require him to protect her or turn her over as an enemy of Rome? And when Licinia’s heart is drawn toward the pagan man who makes money off death, can she reconcile her growing affection with her love for Christ?

Book Takeaway:

No one is beyond the reach of God, and the most unlikely person might be the one to show them the way to a future filled with hope, forgiveness, and love.

Why the author wrote this book:

In True Freedom, the gladiator Africanus and his owner Brutus helped Aulus look for his sister after the fake kidnapping that Aulus had arranged to get ransom money for his gambling debts turned into the real thing. They also helped Aulus grow from an impulsive youth into a responsible young man. When people who’d read True Freedom kept telling me they wanted more of Africanus or Brutus, who considered Africanus his best friend, I decided to make them and their friendship one plotline of a volume in the series. As I’ve taken Brutus and Licinia, the Christian woman he blamed for the death of his wife, through painful events to a blessed future, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed exploring how God could reach a professional killer and a man who made money off the death of other men.