The self-made, hard-hearted, green-eyed empress of Rome has everything she could ever want or need - that is, until she meets Catalina, a feisty Spanish slave who is seemingly without fear of the notoriously vicious ruler. Empress Servia Fabia Maxima finds herself drawn to Catalina, who slowly begins to chisel away at the ice around the empress's heart and makes her wonder whether there is more to the world than merely ruling it. But with a brutal military campaign to overtake the Far East, societal demands for the ruler to produce an heir and a suspected plot to overthrow her reign, Servia fears she could never become the empress Catalina believes she can be. And amid her abundance of struggles, the Roman empress soon comes to find she may be forced to lose not only her kingdom, but also the young Spaniard who stole her heart.