Gladiatrix Daughter of War Book I The Gladiatrix Chronicles

The first novel in a gripping, unforgettable historical-thriller series by award-winning screenwriter and best-selling author of Boudicca's Revenge Roxanne Gregory.

"Gregory takes you to the first century when diversity was common and everyone believed in magic."

First-century Britannia -- Abandoned at birth because she killed her mother, one young woman unknowingly holds the future fate of womankind within her prescient hands.

Orphaned at birth, rescued by the Druids, Aoife (A-fah) is a prescient priestess in-training, and is learning to walk the Otherworld through the use of sacred herbs and magic mushrooms, when the Roman invasion destroys her tribal life. Betrayed and captured with three other girls, Aoife uses her magic to walk between worlds and to see through the eyes of both men and animals and what their future holds.

Disfigured during a storm at sea, In Ostia they are sold to Piso's Lupanar. As Aoife reads and writes Greek and is multi-lingual, she becomes Senator Gaius the Blind's Greek reader. But Gaius is plotting treason against the emperor with his nephew General Germanicus.

Roman life is an astounding new adventure for all the girls, who are losing hope they will ever see their homeland again, but Aoife quickly learns how to survive. Little Cilla and the other girls are trained as acrobatic entertainers and singers, but during a private party one of them goes missing. In order to find her, Aoife enters the Otherworld, which is filled with creatures she never fathomed in Britannia. Demons, skrittchers and dream-eaters plague the Roman Otherworld.
Thinking Little Cilla's been sold, Aoife is horrified when she's confronted by her ghost. Can Aoife enter her shade and discover who killed her and why without going mad? Through Cilla's eyes, Aoife witnesses her ritual murder by the Brotherhood of Sol Invictus- the male-only religion of the legions. who are led by the Heliodromous, an ageless demon cloaked in the decaying flesh of men.

Aoife confronts the Heliodromous, who shockingly tells her he knew her mother. Aoife seeks blood justice from Piso, but is betrayed and is condemned to the arena. During the feast before the games, where even the Damnati can feast and frolic with the gladiators and their elite fans, she meets Nyx, a beautiful Nubian gladiatrix who is also a Shining Sister. Nyx recognizes Aoife as one, too.

War rages between the Shining Sisters, their Dark Mothers and the Brotherhood of Sol Invictus. Nyx and Aoife become lovers as she teaches her how to raise her magic auric light.

Condemned to the beasts, covered in pig's blood Aoife walks into the arena raises her auric light and charms the beasts who walk with her as if her pets. Wowed, the crowd demands the emperor spare her and General Germanicus pledges his surety for her training as a gladiatrix at Vettius' great gladiatorial training school.

Skillfully fighting in the arena, Aoife and Nyx become celebrated champions honoured by their brothers, but imperial intrigue threatens all as the Brotherhood has other plans.