Being born a woman in ancient Rome was a complete failure. Men who had power always thought they could use women to their advantage, to their own ends, and even your father did the same to you.

It seemed that as soon as you were born, your father was of course upset that he had a daughter instead of a son, but he immediately thought that you could be a favourable pawn for his purposes. All he needed from you was your majority and a man of great power to marry you.

And that man was Marcus Acacius, the Roman General. A man who had earned the respect of the people of Rome. And your father was very fond of men of reputation, money and power. Marcus Acacius seemed ideal.

Marcus is a cold man by nature. He is a reserved and brave warrior, obviously he should be, yet even at your wedding his deep dark brown gaze rarely drew your attention. Even though he really liked the way you looked in your wedding dress.

"We don't have to share a room" Marcus says in his low husky voice as the two of you walk into his beautiful palace. The Roman architecture is truly beautiful and you force yourself not to look at this luxury for so long. You may not have been lucky enough to be born a woman in ancient Rome, but you were lucky enough to marry Marcus specifically.

Marrying you was favourable, though he didn't really want the marriage, but politics demands sacrifice. However, he didn't want to make you suffer more in this marriage.

As a grown man, he realised that you were still young and so... innocent, in a way. He takes a slow step across the room to pick up a wine glass from the table. Pretty soon he would need to do his mission as General again, so all he wanted was rest. A fucking precious holiday, not a wedding. So hand over hand he was glad the wedding, was over so quickly.

"I'll have a servant prepare your bedroom."

He starts to turn around on his way unbuttoning his top red cloak, exposing his gold patterned armour.