But, he had not been able to stay at Didyme’s side twenty-four seven. She had her duties, and he had his. His duties kept him in Volterra in the days while she stayed in Rome and he only sped towards her faster than the human eye could see when he knew he could be with her. As he ran there was only one thought in his mind…

…Didyme…

The fact that they were separated more than he would have liked was what eventually led to what was almost her downfall.

Like many priests and priestesses, Didyme had been required to attend a number of functions for the dictator and the senate. The Roman government did not want to take any chances with the gods and goddesses. It was at one of these gatherings that the Caesar had brushed against her and her gift had come into play.

She had not even thought much of it when she reached out and grasped the dictator’s robes and whispered breathlessly, fear in her eyes, “Beware of the Ides of March!”

Caesar, though he had presented himself as a devout follower of the pantheon of gods and goddesses that the Romans believed in, even going so far as to claim that he had divine blood himself, merely chuckled at the warning that the red-haired beauty had given him, but her fellow priests and the men who were already conspiring against him took it quite seriously.

Too seriously.

Her fellow servants of Pluto had hustled her off after the words had escaped her lips and the conspirators were already taking note, planning to silence her.

When she had told Marcus what had happened that evening, he felt dread course through him the way blood had once coursed through his veins. A million thoughts went through his mind; chief among them was her lying dead in an alley somewhere, a victim of the plot that seemed to have already been set in motion.

It was this image of her lying raped, beaten, and dead at the hands of men that were monsters that drove his resolve more than anything and he had taken her to Volterra that night to become part of his family with the intention of keeping her safe by his side for all eternity.

Even though she had not said that she loved him he could not imagine a world where she did not exist.