Too Near the Sun

<p><strong>Roman Britain. </strong>Midsummer AD 371. </p><p>Two years have passed since the traumatic invasions of the <strong><em>Barbarica Conspiratio </em></strong>were finally suppressed. But in a Britannia still suffering sporadic raids by barbarians from beyond the frontiers there is said to exist <strong>a scroll</strong> listing the names of influential men – and women – plotting to secede from the Empire and use the taxes saved to boost the island’s defences.</p><p><strong>And where: </strong></p><p><strong>Claudius Caninus (Canio) </strong>has unwisely disclosed that he dreamt he is the grandson of the long-dead usurper emperor Allectus, although he is still unsure whether he actually believes the dream.</p><p><strong>Aelia Aureliana</strong> is the owner of one of the finest villas in the province, a worshipper of the sun god Helios/Sol, and mysteriously certain that Canio really is Allectus’s grandson – but will not tell him why.</p><p><strong>Tribunus Maximus</strong>, an army officer, suspects that Aelia knows the location of the scroll and is blackmailing Canio to find it for him.</p><p><strong>But to do so Canio must get close to Aelia, and the closer he gets the more he falls under the spell of both the woman and her ambitions.</strong></p>