Return to Me (25 page)

Wallia and his people were by now desperate for food and through treaty they surrendered to General Constantius, now
magister militum
of Rome. As part of the peace treaty between the Visigoths and the Empire, Placidia was returned to Italy, where Honorius forced her into marriage with Constantius. By him, Placidia had two children: a daughter, Justa Grata Honoria, and a son, Placidus Valentinianus, the future Emperor Valentinian III.

Constantius died in 421 and Honorius followed soon afterward in 423, and once again, Placidia came into her own, her remaining days spent in service to her family and the Western Roman Empire. She acted as Empress Regent from 425 until her son came of age in 437, and was also a celebrated patron of the arts and religious houses, building and restoring many churches in Italy and throughout the world, her mausoleum in Ravenna chief among them.

As for the remaining, tangible remnants of our historical characters’ lives, there are a few that exist, even after sixteen hundred years. There is a necklace, given by Honorius to his first wife, Maria, which is housed in the collection of the Louvre, as well as various golden medallions of Honorius and Galla Placidia. Many of the churches Placidia built or restored still remain, including the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, San Giovanni Evangelista in Ravenna, and, of course, her famous mausoleum. The body of Athaulf and Placidia’s child, Theodosius Germanicus, was exhumed and reburied inside the imperial mausoleum in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, where it is sheltered to this day.

We strive for accuracy on all fronts, and so our scenes with Dipsas and the blood moon cursings are based on actual lunar eclipses, which, according to astronomers, occurred in October of
A.D.
414, and in March and September of
A.D.
415, in the vicinity of Ravenna.

But, because this is a time travel epic romance, and therefore classified as historical fantasy, we have invented some characters for the purposes of our plot, including the aforementioned Dipsas, as well as Titus Africanus, Vana, Lucius, and Margareta of the Visigoths, the fictional daughter of Athaulf and Placidia.

As for Galla Placidia and her real children by Constantius, although their bodies are now dust, they live on in a beautifully preserved miniature painting on gilded glass, which can be seen at the Museo Civico Cristiano at Brescia. Although scholars question if the portrait does indeed show Placidia and her family, we hope it might, for it gives a face to our princess. In the painting, a lavish pearl necklace graces Placidia’s throat. Of course, no one knows who actually gave her the necklace or what happened to it, but we think our romantic solution may be true, and that perhaps the pearls still exist somewhere in the world, gifted from one lover to another down through the ages.

Our time traveling heroine, Gigi Perrin, is of course a product of our imaginations, although we suspect there is more than a trace of us present in her characterization, including our abiding hope that we too will leave the world a better place.

And lastly, we note that Gigi’s great love, Quintus Pontius Flavus Magnus, is also wholly fictional — although men like him certainly existed in the fourth and fifth centuries
A.D.
, men of honor, loyal to the Empire to the bitter end, until the last flicker of the Ancient World winked out and Rome waned, replaced by an age of darkness.

Two authors writing as one, Cary Morgan Frates and Deborah O’Neill Cordes specialize in recreating pivotal moments in history, epic adventure, and romance — with a time travel twist. This is the third novel in their Roman time travel series. They live with their families in the Pacific Northwest.

In the mood for more Crimson Romance?

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The Silver Rose
by Rowena May O’Sullivan
at
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.