Shadow of Athena

Lokris, Greece around 650 BC: Sixteen-year-old Marpessa is the latest victim of Athena’s wrath. Chosen by lot to appease the goddess for a sacrilege committed hundreds of years ago, she and another maiden must swear to a lifetime of virginity and sail across the Aegean to Troy to serve as slaves in Athena’s temple there for a year. This destroys the cruel oligarch Klonios’s plan to make Marpessa his bride. He vows to await her return and have her at all costs.

The young slave Arion is sent to escort the maidens on their journey. Intent on seizing his freedom at the completion of the mission, he jumps ship and escapes. When barbarians raid Troy, Arion rushes to the citadel to save the girls, only to find the other girl dead and Marpessa gravely injured. He smuggles her out of Troy and heals her wounds. Marooned on an alien shore, they struggle to survive in a rough, unforgiving landscape teeming with dangers. The two yield to a forbidden love. Marpessa will risk anything to be with her beloved, but Arion has always known he will have to give her up. His only option is to return her to Lokris, despite the dire fate that awaits him there. But there will be no safe homecoming for either of them if the vengeful Klonios has his way.