Several women joined them beneath the canopy. It was painfully clear that Antigonus was more obsessed with them than he had been when Marcus left Rome, and he was betting heavily on a gladiator from Gaul. He wondered if he could stomach watching them now.

He hadn’t been to the games since Ephesus. His chest tightened and his stomach became a hard knot as the procession began. But he could not deny he felt uncomfortable when the trumpets began blaring. Marcus tried to still his emotions as he entered the stands and found his seat. His friend was now a powerful senator and held a place of honor on the podium. Now the laughter of friends was hollow, the frenetic feasting and drinking exhausting rather than satisfying.ĭowncast and needing distraction, he agreed to attend the games with Antigonus.

Over the past few weeks since returning to the city of his birth, he had spent hours wandering the streets, visiting places he had always enjoyed before. Or maybe he had never before noticed, too involved in his own life and activities to care. He had forgotten the stench of the polluted Tiber and the oppressive, mingled humanity.

Marcus Lucianus Valerian walked through a maze of streets in the Eternal City, hoping to find a sanctuary of peace within himself. Will he find God and spiritual fulfillment, becoming the man Hadassah knows he can be? Turning away from the opulence of Rome, Marcus is led by a whispering voice from the past into a journey that could set him free from the darkness of his soul. When Julia falls ill, Hadassah is forced to confront another difficult decision: should she return to the Valerian household, risking exposure and death, to help her former tormentor in the Christian tradition? The flame between Hadassah and Marcus is ultimately rekindled, though Marcus continues to search for meaning and faith. Believed dead, Hadassah finds employment helping a doctor in the poor section of the city and develops a knack for healing through the power of her faith. This classic series has inspired millions of readers around the world!Ī year has passed and Hadassah has donned veils to protect her identity as well as the scars that now mark her body. The breathtaking second installment of the story of Hadassah, a courageous Christian slave girl with unrelenting faith and Marcus, the aristocrat who claims her heart, set against the backdrop of Ancient Rome.

A voice in the wind hadassah