The heir's duty

Marcus Valerius Rufus never wanted to be the heir. When his perfect older brother dies, Marcus is dragged from his dreams of military glory on the Dacian frontier and chained to a new destiny: political marriage, Senate politics, and the suffocating expectations of one of Rome's most powerful families. His father has already chosen the bride — Claudia Metella, a senator's daughter as beautiful and empty as a marble statue. The betrothal will be announced at the games. The wedding will follow before summer. Marcus's life has been decided without his consent. Then he meets Livia. She's a freedman's daughter who paints walls for a living. She's everything Rome says he should ignore — common, poor, invisible. But her art makes him feel something real for the first time in thirty days of grief, and her honesty cuts through the performance his entire life has become. She tells him she's not his rebellion. She tells him their worlds don't meet. She tells him to go back to his future wife and forget her name. He can't. And someone is watching. The Nocturnal Observer — Rome's anonymous gossip writer — has already noticed the heir of the Valerius house slipping away from his bride-to-be to visit a painter in the eastern corridor. In a city where reputation is currency, one scandal can destroy everything. A love that defies Rome's oldest rules. A family that demands obedience. And an invisible writer who turns secrets into spectacle. In Rome, duty always wins. But Marcus Valerius is about to find out what it costs.