Challenge — M.Gabrielle Legault

Juljana's hopes lay in ruin when she learns that Maia will wed Hephestia's brother, Damian, and that the high camp has been captured by Aeropos's forces. Not realizing that it was Maia's compliance which has released them from Gaius's tyranny, she and Lucilla have already taken steps to secure another heir to the Ardianian throne.Struggling to comprehend Maia's decision, Stefan attempts to confront her when she returns home to oversee her parent's divorce. But a tragic turn of events puts Maia's life in peril and pits Gaius against him, setting off the first of many challenges he must overcome in order to win the freedom for Aeropos' captives, even as he despairs of ever sharing a life with the woman he loves.He and Demetrius have no way of knowing that the Macedonian king has set a trap, using the inhabitants of the high camp as bait, to lure the Ardianian heir out into the open, where Gaius has been diligently preparing for his annihilation.