Bride of the Emperor (The Prophecy of Sisters Book 4)

by Hayley Faiman

  “Shall we, melculum?” he practically purrs.

  Turning my head, I rip my gaze from the crowd and look up to him. He’s smiling down at me, his lips curved up and the smile even reaches his eyes. He’s happy, truly happy, and I wonder if he ever thought he could be this way with me, with his fated, or with a wife at all.

  I don’t ask him.

  Instead, I dip my chin, returning his smile with one of my own. “I am,” I say.

  He guides us over to a long table where there are several people already seated, however, I notice that the two chairs in the middle are empty and facing the dance floor. The backs of the two chairs are taller than all the others and there is a plate heaping with food placed in front of each of them, along with a goblet of what I assume is wine.

  Tiberius holds the chair out for me and I sink down in the seat as he pushes it in, then he sits down beside me. I hadn’t noticed that everyone else at the tables stood when we approached and are now settling into their seats as well.

  “Manducare,” Tiberius rasps, keeping his voice low.

  Looking over to him, I frown. “Nobody else is eating,” I point out.

  His lips curve up into a grin. “Nobody manducares before the emperor. And the emperor does not manducare before his empress.”

  “Is that second part a rule?” I ask, arching a brow.

  He shakes his head once. “A personal one. My father did not care who was at his table, he was the first to manducare, always.”

  “But you care?”

  Tiberius’ lips curve up into a grin and he watches me for a moment, then he reaches out and picks up a piece of meat from his plate. I expect him to bring it to his lips. I watch as he brings his arm up, then I am shocked when he places the meat at my own lips.

  Opening my mouth, I allow him to place the food on my tongue. He smiles the entire time, watching me chew, then he leans in and touches his mouth to my neck, just below my ear.

  “I care deeply, Drucilla. You are my empress, you come first.”

  Goose bumps break out over my entire body. I close my eyes and bite back the moan, not only from his sweet words but also at his closeness.

  I miss my husband.

  I want him.

  The rest of the meal, we don’t talk, mainly because I am so immersed in the people around us. I watch everything that is going on. People watching is so my thing. If I’m not in the middle of the party, I like to watch it happening around me. There is no in-between for me.

  “Would you like to dance?”

  Turning my head, I look over to my husband. “You dance?” I ask.

  He chuckles, shaking his head. “I do.”

  The only time I have danced here was when I first arrived and Marcellus was pretending to be my warrior. I knew the truth, I knew that Marcellus was not the man who plucked me up, placed me on his horse and rode.

  “I would love to dance with you,” I murmur.

  A few moments later we are on the dance floor. The people stand to the side as we walk by and it’s odd, but also really freaking cool.

  I’m royalty.

  Once we’re on the dance floor, I attempt to dance the way that I’ve been watching the others do. I’m not very good at it, but I don’t mind, and judging by the way Tiberius is smiling, neither does he.

  We dance. We dance as if we do not have a care in the world, as if there aren’t magical forces after us, as if there isn’t some mystical prophecy, as if I’m not from another world. We just laugh, smile, and dance, and it’s not for the first time that I am grateful Decima gave me my desired wish to be able to speak and understand the language.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  DRUCILLA

  As the night wanes on, I drink more and dance longer. Cassia and I end up dancing with one another and although I tried to get Laurentia to join us, she politely declines. I didn’t understand why, she’s my girl now, and no way would I let anything happen to her, but she still declined.

  Tiberius has even let loose as the night goes on. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him smile so much, though I must admit that I haven’t known him in a regular circumstance.

  “Mulier,” he shouts.

  Turning around, I wonder why he is shouting wife at me from just a few feet away. I see him standing with Brutus and a beautiful woman. Cassia giggles from next to me, but then Marcellus appears and guides her away, I frown at the sight of him taking her, but turn back to Tiberius.

  Making my way toward Brutus and the woman, I smile as I approach. “This is my mulier, Tullia,” Brutus announces. “We will be taking our leave, but I know that you’ve not had a chance to meet yet.”

  Turning to the woman, I hold out my hand. She shakes her head and closes the distance between us, wrapping her arms around me. “Welcome, cousin,” she whispers against my ear.

  Smiling, I take a step back and thank her. “We are to take our leave,” she says, her voice soft and sweet.

  I can see why Brutus would choose her. She is petite, soft, and sweet in demeanor to his tall, hulking, brute. They are not a match, and yet, they match quite perfectly to one another—they complement one another well.

  “But we’ve just met,” I say, pouting because I’m drunk.

  Apparently, I act like a child when I’ve had way too much wine. I’ve never been an out-and-party wine drinker, typically I would go for something with fewer calories, but it’s not like they have much else here to choose from.

  “Sorry, we must be going, we will join you soon,” Brutus announces.

  I don’t understand his words, though I assume he means they’re going to pop over for dinner or something soon. Lifting my hand, I wave to them as they walk away and call out that I just can’t wait to see them again.

  Tiberius chuckles, wrapping his arm around my waist. His fingers grip my hip and he begins to walk. In fact, as I look around in confusion, I watch as people either begin to walk in our direction or they take off out of the room in the same direction as Brutus and Tullia.

  “Where are we going?” I ask.

  “The orgia. It will be fun, more celebrating,” Tiberius says.

  His words are slightly slurred and for whatever reason, I don’t completely understand what he’s saying to me. I don’t know if it’s because that word is not in my language or if it’s because we’re both tipsy.

  Tiberius guides me into this large room, and I’m so busy looking at all of the fantastic wall hangings. The luscious looking deep purple velvet type curtains hang from ceiling to floor, then are gathered to the middle of the ceiling where a huge candelabra hangs down with real freaking candles lit all the way around in a five-tier design.

  I don’t immediately see what is really going on in the room.

  Then I do.

  I remember reading about things that groups like the Romans did in history, the free sex, the orgies, and it hits me. That’s what orgia was—an orgy.

  Holy shit.

  There are naked people everywhere. I think that we’re the only dressed ones and I swallow the ball in my throat, trying to keep from screaming and running from the room.

  I don’t make a move though. I am frozen in my spot. Tiberius begins to take his clothes off and I am still frozen in complete and total shock and awe.

  “Drucilla,” Tiberius purrs, his voice breaking through my internal what-the-actual-fuck dialog that’s been on repeat the past five minutes. “You needn’t worry about the people touching you, they will have to ask permission. There are several servis if you wish to use them instead of Savonaians.”

  I blink at him, then blink again. I haven’t even been with Tiberius since I’ve returned and now, he wants me to join in an orgy with him?

  Taking a step back, I shake my head. Tiberius frowns, he reaches out to me, but I don’t allow him to touch me. Instead, I quickly turn my back to him, grip my long gown in my hands and I run.

  I don’t just run, I sprint from the room as fast as my feet will take me.

  I don’t stop
running until I reach the bedroom that I share with Tiberius. I don’t know what the hell just happened here. I don’t know what he was thinking, and now I wonder what kind of world I have just been thrust into. But if this is a world of orgies, I don’t think I can do that—any of it.

  I’m all about feeling good, I’m all about sex, but I am not about sharing with anyone and everyone. No freaking way in hell. Just the thought of another woman touching Tiberius causes my blood to begin to boil below the surface.

  My face heats as the blood begins to boil harder and when the door opens to the bedroom a few moments later, I am flat out, completely pissed the hell off. It’s Tiberius, and if he realizes my mood, he doesn’t say anything.

  Thankfully, he’s dressed when he walks into the room. I don’t know what I would do if he was still naked. Lose my shit even more, I’m sure. I watch as he closes the door behind me.

  My anger and irritation grow by the second. In the background, without me even realizing it has happened, I hear a wolf whining outside of the window.

  “Call off your beast before he brings the others to join. My people are here,” Tiberius snaps.

  His words send a chill down my spine and not in a sexy way. My entire torso jerks and although I want to tell him to go fuck himself, I decide to do as he’s demanded, at least right this second.

  Walking over to the window, my body still vibrating with not only anger, but embarrassment as well, I lean out of the window and tip my chin down as I tell the wolf that everything is fine and he can relax. He doesn’t, but he does stop growling.

  Turning back to face Tiberius, I can’t help but look at him. He is watching me with his hands crossed over his chest and he has the audacity to look irritated.

  “Your people?” I ask, going back to the words he snapped at me not long ago. “I thought they were our people?”

  His brows furrow as he watches me for a moment, then he shakes his head once. “Can they be your people if you do not accept them? Accept me?”

  I blink. Then I blink again. “I don’t accept them?” I whisper. “Because I won’t strip naked and have sex with random people?”

  “It is a celebration. A large celebration, Drucilla,” he hisses.

  I can’t believe that this is what we are truly talking about. “You would have been okay with another man touching me, being inside of me?” I ask.

  Tiberius has the nerve to shrug his shoulder. “As long as he did not penetrate your cunnus, it would have been acceptable. The servi could have taken you with their mouth as well. Since you seem to enjoy that.”

  “Are you trying to tell me that you would have been okay with another man having anal sex with me, then a slave eating me out?” I ask, saying my words very slowly.

  “It is the way of my people. At least when we celebrate and all are in agreement. It is not done behind the back of your spouse.”

  Taking a step back, I shake my head. “I can’t believe this,” I whisper. “I just can’t. Why would the gods do this? It must be a cruel joke,” I murmur to myself.

  “Drucilla, these are our traditions, these are my people. You are their empress, whether you like it or not, that will never change.”

  “And you were going to have sex with someone else, someone who is not me? After the talk we had in the bathhouse.”

  “This was not the bathhouse,” he says as his sole explanation.

  I’m going to kill him. I honestly don’t know how he has survived this long. “Tiberius,” I snap.

  I don’t realize it’s happening, not until it’s in the middle of happening and by then I don’t know how to stop it, not that I would have from the beginning anyway.

  TIBERIUS

  Smoke surrounds me. It looks much like Decima’s purple haze, but it is not as weighty as hers. This is all Drucilla. I am also not frozen in my spot with Drucilla’s smoke. Though, I don’t chance making my way toward her, because she is extremely upset and angry.

  “Drucilla,” I call out.

  Her head snaps and her eyes narrow on me. Then something happens, something that I didn’t know she could do. Although, I don’t know the limitations of her powers, and I’m not sure I will ever know.

  Purple light flashes in her eyes and my entire body is thrown backward, I slide along the stone floor and my back slams into the wall. I groan as the pain radiates throughout my entire back. I was taken completely off guard, shaking the confused feeling from my head, I stand straight and clear my throat.

  “Drucilla,” I snap.

  She is too angry to reason with. She tips her head backward and I watch as her back arches to an extreme angle, then light pours out of her, purple light that matches her eyes. I watch, unable to move.

  It is beautiful and terrifying all at the same time.

  When her feet leave the ground, when she begins to float, that is when I spring into action. I am not used to this, magi, but I am a warrior and I cannot let her run from me. I cannot watch her disappear again, I will not allow it.

  Hurrying toward her, I wrap my arms around her waist and I bring her to the floor. Lifting my hand, I am careful to cradle her head so that she does not crack her skull against the hard stone flooring.

  I cover her body with my own, though she struggles beneath me, I do not allow her freedom. She is mine and she is not leaving me, not ever again. When she stops thrashing beneath me, I lift my hands and cradle the sides of her face, my nose just centimeters from her own.

  “It bothers you this much?” I ask, keeping my voice soothing and calm.

  Tears fill her eyes and I watch as they leak violet streaks down the sides of her face. Using my thumb, I wipe them away.

  “It is done here, melculum. If you are to be here, you must learn our way of life. Sex is not taboo. It is not something you only share with your spouse. This, right here, between us, this respect and trust, this commitment to be married, it is not sex.”

  “To me, it is all the same. Commitment means only sharing your body with me,” she whispers through trembling lips.

  She’d tried to tell me in the bathhouse and I understood, but at the same time, I did not truly understand.

  “This confuses me, I cannot imagine being so confined,” I admit.

  The look of pain that crosses her face, it is more than I can bear. She whimpers and I know that it is in agony. Lowering my face, I touch my lips to hers, but she does not attempt to kiss me back, she is broken. My beautiful mulier is broken by my world, by my country’s traditions and I do not know how to fix that.

  “Please leave me alone.”

  “Never,” I rasp against her lips.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  DRUCILLA

  I’m sure that Tiberius knows I silently cried all night long. The next morning, he isn’t lying next to me when I wake up and I feel… devastated.

  Last night was fun until it was a nightmare. Tiberius held me all night long, he didn’t just hold me, he held me and it was tight and beautiful. If some of the night hadn’t been so awful, I would have reveled in the closeness as we slept.

  Rolling over onto my back, I stare at the ceiling and wonder what in the actual hell were the gods thinking? Then I wonder if my sisters are going through, or went through the same thing? My eyes widen in panic when I think about them having full-on orgies with a bunch of strangers.

  I don’t get much time to analyze that and overthink it, because just as I’m thinking about Birdie or Liv having to not only share their men, but themselves too, the door to the bedroom opens.

  Turning my head, I expect to see Tiberius strolling in wearing his little man-skirt and nothing else. I feel a little deflated when it’s Laurentia making her way in carrying a flat wooden tray filled with food.

  “The emperor wanted me to bring you something to break your fast,” she murmurs.

  Nodding, I sit up and throw my legs over the bed, making my way to the small stall in the back of the bedroom. It’s a very old-fashioned, basically archaic, bathroom. I do my b
usiness, in a big seemingly endless hole, then use the pot of water and soap to wash my hands.

  Going back to Laurentia, I walk over to the small table where she has set the tray down. I’m wearing nothing but a practically sheer white gown, but seeing as Laurentia has seen every square inch of my body, I don’t bother even pretending to be embarrassed.

  There is fruit, cheese, and bread on the platter, which normally I love, but today I feel very lackluster about everything. I don’t even want to think about the magic that just spilled out of me last night either, that’s a totally different thing that happened.

  “He came to me,” she whispers, breaking the silence.

  My heart begins to hammer in my chest and I freeze, lifting my eyes to meet hers, I wait to see what she’s going to say next. When she doesn’t speak, I ask her. “He came to you?”

  Laurentia nods her head. “He did. He wanted me to talk to you, to tell you about his people. I think he’s afraid to send Cassia or Tullia in to talk to you. They both are of your stature, so they should have been the ones. I am far below, but he said I was your friend and needed to talk to you.”

  Well, at least Tiberius knows who my friend is. He pays attention, and I wonder what else he pays attention to. Although, I would consider Cassia my friend as well, but this is definitely not something I would want to talk to her about.

  Picking up a nut, I don’t eat it right away, my focus on that nut in my grasp and nowhere else. Pinching my eyes closed, I inhale a deep breath, then lift my face and open my eyes, connecting my gaze to hers.

  “The orgies,” I whisper.

  She nods, though she doesn’t look embarrassed or even uncomfortable about the mention of them.

  “Everyone does this here, in this world?”

  “In this world?” she asks. She shakes her head almost immediately. “No, not in this world. Just in Savona that I know of. Possibly elsewhere, I am not versed in many other cultures.”

  A sense of relief washes over me. My sisters at least aren’t doing the same things. Letting out a sigh, I reach for an apple slice. Leaning back, I let out a sigh and look up at the ceiling before I shift my gaze back to meet hers.