Book Description

Seventeen-year-old Thekla needs her quick wits and knife to track down her betrothed, a soldier who has left her at the altar for the third time. Elias the monk travels with her to Constantinople where she meets Irini of Athens, an extraordinarily beautiful orphan who has been brought by powerful Emperor Constantine to marry his son, Co-Emperor Leon. The two women join forces to survive this vigorous, glittering capital of the Roman Empire of the East, rocked by division and strife. But will Thekla help the ambitious and ruthless Irini of Athens find the power that she craves?

The Empress Irini Series

History tells us that Irini of Athens, a young orphan, married into the Byzantine royal household in 769 AD. History also tells us that within eleven years, two Emperors died suddenly and in quick succession, making Irini Empress and ruler of Byzantium. In this series, Janet McGiffin unearths what history forgot — the complete, unabridged story of Irini of Athens: her vulnerabilities, her pursuit of power, and her revenge.