In the turbulent heart of imperial Rome, AD 81, Cornelia-aristocrat and high priestess of the Vestal Virgins commits an unforgivable act: she allows Vesta's sacred flame to die and flees the temple. Haunted by fear of execution, she hides among the tombs along a highway on the city's edge and stumbles into an underground Christian gathering. There she meets Marcus, a gentle widower whose quiet faith both puzzles and intrigues her. He shelters her in his humble tenement, but Cornelia, raised on the philosophy of Epicurus, rejects every creed, even the goddess she once served.
Her fragile refuge shatters when Aulus, a corrupt veteran, recognizes her and hires slave traders to abduct her for profit. Sold to a brutal country estate, Cornelia endures months of grueling labor and sexual violence before daring a public revelation of her identity when the villa hosts a party. Her bold gamble draws the notice of Gaius, an ambitious young senator who recognizes her, escorts her back to Rome, and secures her reinstatement under Emperor Domitian's grudging pardon.
Cornelia resumes her sacred duties, but the experience has changed her. She secretly buys freedom for her fellow slave Dora and arranges secret meetings with Marcus, whose steadfast compassion deepens their unspoken bond. Then Gaius, reckless, charming, and dangerously attracted to her, pursues a forbidden affair. Their passion ignites during the riotous festival of Saturnalia, even as Domitian's Rome grows more paranoid and cruel.
When the emperor revives the ancient, brutal punishments for Vestal unchastity, Cornelia watches two of her sisters condemned to be buried alive. Gaius promises marriage once her thirty-year term ends, yet he cannot sever his ties to wealth and power. When he weds the formidable heiress Occia, betrayal and jealousy spiral into danger: Occia manipulates Domitian to have Marcus arrested, and Gaius, increasingly desperate, joins a plot to overthrow the emperor.
The conspiracy unravels. Gaius is hunted, captured, and thrown into the arena forced to fight for his life against a gladiator whose helmet falls to reveal Marcus. Cornelia watches, helpless, as her lover and her dearest friend are pitted in mortal combat. Marcus, a battle-hardened veteran, survives, and the crowd's fervor spares him Domitian's wrath.
But Rome's tyranny tightens. When Dora's family is accused of treason, Cornelia risks everything to help them escape. For leaving the sacred fire untended a second time, she is condemned to the ancient punishment she once escaped: burial alive. Sealed in darkness, Cornelia faces death and a final, mysterious encounter with the goddess she long denied. Vesta's apparition offers forgiveness and a freedom no empire can contain.
Blending political intrigue, forbidden desire, and the collision of faith and doubt, this sweeping historical novel follows a woman who defies gods and emperors to claim her own destiny in a world ruled by fear and discovers a deeper, unexpected liberation.
Autorentext
An amateur historian of the ancient world, Darcy has always been fascinated by the Vestal Virgins. After visiting Rome several times and researching the Vestals, Darcy thought how many fascinating stories must have unfolded in the house of the Vestals over the thousand years they worshiped Vesta and maintained her eternal flame inside her temple in the Forum. The Wayward Vestal is one of those stories.