What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

It’s a series of around 5/6 books and has a fairly overt Roman Empire style and follows multiple characters. However the main character of the series starts out as an unpowered nobody, and he bonds with a nomadic tribe to stop the skirmishes/war, one of which a girl who becomes his future lover.
As the series progresses he becomes an archeologist? And starts uncovering some secret that might cause? Or end?? A war that’s happening in the kingdom. But because he’s away from his mother who is a water spirit user he starts to develop his ability to talk with his spirits.

Turns out his mother was the lover of a previous emperor? And she’s used her water spirit to suppress his ability to access the spirits he was born with. And through that he learns that he is the rightful heir to the kingdom and the series ends with him having a child with his lover. (I keep thinking of the name Gaius but I might be imagining that)

Other major character includes
The main characters lover. Who even though she’s a nomad and the nomads don’t have the ability to call the spirits she gains the ability because of her sleeping with the main character.
A diplomat?? Lady with a wind spirit??
An Uncle?? of the main character general/captain guy with a fire spirit??
Those characters end up in a relationship. And it’s a fairly spicy one. (Hence why I remember it being an Adult fantasy and not YA)

Codex Alera series, by Jim Butcher; starting with Furies of Calderon?

"In the realm of Alera, where people bond with the furies-elementals of earth, air, fire, water, and metal-fifteen-year-old Tavi struggles with his lack of furycrafting. But when his homeland erupts in chaos-when rebels war with loyalists and furies clash with furies-Tavi's simple courage will turn the tides of war."

Theo, around what year(s) did you read this series?

I removed what sounded like a spoiler from the topic header and added a spoiler alert. Feel free to edit it.

Spoiler below:






(view spoiler)["... Story mainly follows a character without a spirit who turns out to be the “emperor” and actually has all of the spirits." (hide spoiler)]

Solved answer was Codex Alera