Hope’s Reward by Carol Ashby

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 120s – Roman Empire/Traveling

Must the secrets we hide destroy our hope for a future?

For a gladiator slave, each time you step on the sand, it’s kill or die. When Ursus decides to follow Jesus, he must choose to die the next time he’s ordered to fight…or run away. He runs, taking again his childhood name, Matti. But he isn’t just trying to escape. He’s running to Thessalonica, where he hopes to find other Christians like the woman who led him to faith.

When Felicia’s new husband, Falco, almost kills her in a fit of rage, her uncle won’t help her end the marriage with his business partner. He will send her to her sister in Thessalonica, but only if she tells no one she plans to divorce Falco and demand her dowry back before she gets there. When Matti interrupts a robbery too late to save Felicia’s money for traveling by sea, he offers to bodyguard and escort her overland to their mutual destination.

After Matti risks everything to save her from Falco’s assassins, Felicia fears taking the danger to her sister’s family. When his Christian friends take them in, she discovers the deepest desires of her heart. But will the secrets of Matti’s past make a future together impossible?

Honor Bound by Carol Ashby

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122 – Italy/Ancient Germany

Honor had forced him to protect her. Time would tell if he’d regret it.

Marcus Brutus owns estates, ships, and gladiator schools that increase his fortune daily, but his greatest treasures are his honor and his wife. When she reveals her faith in Jesus before dying after the birth of their son, he’s consumed by hatred for the unnamed Christian woman who led his beloved to abandon the Roman gods, making him lose her in this life and the next.

For fifteen years, Licinia’s father hid her Christian faith. But now her father is dead, and a ruthless political enemy is hunting for anything to destroy her brother. When she becomes the target, her brother sends her to their estate in Germania. But is that far enough to protect her from an evil man who will stop at nothing?

A carriage accident leaves Brutus injured and his best friend near death, and Licinia cares for them. When her brother’s enemies come and he learns she’s the Christian who corrupted his wife, does honor require him to protect her or turn her over as an enemy of Rome? And when Licinia’s heart is drawn toward the pagan man who makes money off death, can she reconcile her growing affection with her love for Christ?

The Champion by Carla Capshaw

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The Championthechampion

84 – Rome

A Warrior without Equal, a Woman without Options
Triumphs in the Coliseum—and society bedchambers— made gladiator Alexius of Iolcos famous for his brutal skill and womanizing ways. Yet the only woman who intrigues him is Tiberia the Younger, who now needs his help. Protecting Tiberia places Alexius in the greatest danger he has ever known—from her vengeful father and his own heart…
Becoming a temple priestess may be an honor, but Tibi can’t bear to surrender her freedom or her newfound faith. Alexius’s solution stuns her. Marriage…to a gladiator! Scorned by her noble family, Tibi always felt unworthy. But with her champion by her side, can she accept—and give—a love strong enough to vanquish their enemies?

The Protector by Carla Capshaw

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The Protectortheprotector

81 – Rome

Quintus Ambustus is a slave–Adiona Leonia is a wealthy socialite. He fights for his life in the gladiator’s ring–she plays cutthroat politics in Rome’s high society. He’s sacrificed everything for his Christian faith–she believes in nothing and no one. But when Adiona’s life is threatened, Quintus is chosen as her bodyguard, and their fascination with one another shocks them both. Neither thought to find joy in a match society would condemn…but their feelings cannot be denied. Have they lost too much to believe in happiness? Or will their growing love let them leave the past behind–and build a new future together?

The Gladiator by Carla Capshaw

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The Gladiator thegladiator

81 – Rome

He won his fame–and his freedom–in the gory pits of Rome’s Colosseum. Yet the greatest challenge for once-legendary gladiator Caros Viriathos comes to him through a slave. His slave, the beautiful and mysterious Pelonia Valeria. Her secret brings danger to his household but offers Caros a love like he’s never known….

Should anyone learn she is a Christian, Pelonia will be executed. Her faith threatens not only herself, but her master. Can she convince a man who found fame through unforgiving brutality to show mercy? And when she’s ultimately given the choice, will Pelonia choose freedom or the love of a gladiator?

As Sure As the Dawn by Francine Rivers

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70s – Germania

Atretes, a German barbarian who has won his freedom in the Roman arena, finds his life changed forever by an encounter with a young Christian woman. Atretes vows to move heaven and earth to find his son–the baby he thought was dead, and take him back to Germany. Only one thing stands in his way: Rizpah, the Christian widow who has cared for the child since his birth.