The city, once a small village on the bank of a river not even long enough to reach the northern lands from where she had been taken, was now an awe inspiring place where white houses sprung from the ground alongside magnificent temples built from a marble so pure, it seemed to turn to gold when touched by the orange sunrise.

She stood in the middle of the wide street as people passed her by absorbed in their daily chores, letting her eyes capture every detail.

“What do you really want?” Iulia had asked her the night before her departure.

“A chance to live without always having to look over my shoulder,” she had answered in a whisper.

“Ah!” The old woman had walked to the one shelf in the room to take a little clay statue. “What...

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