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

by Hayley Faiman

  “I really wish we all didn’t rely on fate so much,” Liv sighs. “The gods brought us here, they should have given us an instruction manual or something.”

  Birdie giggles, but I can do nothing but watch my sisters. It feels like it’s been a lifetime since I’ve seen them, and yet they don’t look a day older than the last time I laid eyes on them.

  “Fates are all we have, but we will prevail.”

  “Good guys finish last,” Sybilla mumbles.

  She’s not wrong there. Not in the slightest, but I have a feeling all of our guys are good guys and they certainly did not finish last. Although they are kind of bad boys too, I can tell just by looking at my sisters’ husbands, they are bad fucking asses.

  “We have to have faith in fate,” I say. “If our men have so much faith in the gods, in their plans, then we need to, too.”

  “I wish we could do all of this on our own lands, in our own space where we’re comfortable and know the terrain.”

  “We are not always able to pick the battlefield,” Aeliana says.

  Birdie clears her throat. “Yeah, I know, and I agree, but it would be nice if I could have my lions.”

  “Lions?” Liv and I ask simultaneously.

  Birdie nods. “I can talk to freaking lions,” she squeals.

  “I can talk to wolves,” I admit.

  “I control the sea,” Liv says.

  “I think we all control the weather?” Sybilla asks.

  We all nod, and I am shocked to see that we all have powers, some are the same and some are vastly different, but we’re seriously powerful. I don’t know if we’re considered witches or what, but this is so cool.

  For a few moments I forget about impending doom, about the fact that I may not be able to have children, and about anything that isn’t my sisters and our magic abilities.

  Tomorrow is probably going to bring something our way the likes of which we have never seen before. It’s going to bring the God of the Underworld, but for now, we are four sisters who have missed each other, who have all fallen in love and lived great adventures over the past months.

  We relish in that, we tell each other everything, and I welcome the moment, a moment that I have been craving for far too long.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  DRUCILLA

  After we have had far too much to eat, and our bellies hurt from laughter, we all retire for the evening. Tiberius offers a private room for each of my sisters and their husbands. Today and this evening was the best. I knew that I missed my sisters, but I hadn’t realized just how much.

  I had been so worried about them, about myself, about this world that I hadn’t thought about that piece of me that had been missing—that sisterly bond.

  But, now that I’m alone with Tiberius, the conversation from earlier, about children, it casts a shadow over my mood. There is a rumbling outside and I hate that it’s probably because of me. Tiberius hums, no doubt already knowing that I’m upset—another thing I hate about my moods being reflected in the weather.

  “You are upset about what the maga said,” he announces.

  Rolling my eyes to the ceiling, I walk over to the window, instead of turning around to face my husband. I don’t answer him as I peer down and notice that tonight is different, there is not just the one lone wolf leaning against the wall, there are five.

  “They can sense something coming,” Tiberius whispers, his body touching the back of mine.

  He lifts his hands, wrapping his fingers around my shoulder, squeezing me before he dips his head and touches his lips to the side of my neck.

  Closing my eyes, I hold my breath, wondering if this will be one of the last times I have him all to myself. I know that he needs a child, and though he is married to me, I also know that he will take a mistress to produce an heir. I’ve studied history enough to know that is how this works.

  “Talk to me, Drucilla,” he rasps against my skin.

  “There’s nothing to be said,” I whisper.

  He hums, his hands gently gliding down my arms before he wraps them around my waist and turns me around to face him. I refuse to look up at him voluntarily. I focus on his throat and that’s the wrong thing to do, because even his throat is sexy.

  I feel his finger beneath my chin, he tips my head back and his eyes are intently looking into mine as soon as I connect with them. They soften immediately and his lips curve up into a small smile.

  “You need not worry, melculum.”

  “Oh yeah?” I snort. “I’m so sure.”

  I try to turn my head to the side, to break contact with him, but he doesn’t allow it. Instead, he pinches my chin with his fingers, gripping my waist tighter, holding me exactly where he wants me.

  “Drucilla,” he murmurs. “Look into my eyes.”

  “I am,” I snap.

  He shakes his head. “Look into my eyes, Drucilla. Truly look at me.” Letting out a sigh, I focus on his eyes, I search them. “What do you see?” he demands.

  “Confidence, surety,” I whisper.

  He dips his chin slightly, his gaze never leaving mine. “Confidence that I love you. Surety that no matter what happens, we are in this life together.”

  “But children,” I breathe.

  He shakes his head once. “They will come or they may not. It does not matter to me.”

  “It will. Your world is built on heirs, on marriages and children. This is what is important.”

  He laughs softly, closing the distance between us and touching his lips to mine in a light brush of a kiss. Lifting his head, his gaze finds mine again and he smirks.

  “What is important is the mulier that I have chosen. What is important is her happiness, and having a concubina would break you, mulier.”

  His words are not wrong, but I can’t ask him to give up that part of himself for me. I’ve already asked him to give up far too much. He doesn’t say anything else, instead, his mouth is on mine. I open my mouth in a gasp and his tongue slides inside.

  Lifting my hands, I grip his shoulders with my fingers, dragging my nails down his chest. He growls in my mouth, I swallow the sound, loving the way that I can draw it from deep within him.

  I think that he’s going to walk us backward to the bed, but he doesn’t. Instead, he bends slightly, wrapping his hands around the backs of my thighs and picks me up in one quick move.

  My back is pressed against the stone wall, and I’m grateful that these gowns have sexy leg slits. His hips fit perfectly as it falls open.

  I moan into his mouth as he grinds his hips against my center. I can feel his hard length beneath the fabric of his man-skirt. Reaching between us, I free him at the same time he rips my little panties off with one tug of his hand.

  Then he’s inside of me. There is no warming me up, there is zero preparation and I gasp, dropping my head backward as he buries himself deep inside of me. Tiberius growls, leaning forward, and nips my bottom lip.

  He doesn’t move immediately. Lifting my head, I look at him, trying to control my panting breath. He is smiling, his eyes looking directly and deeply into my own.

  “Tiberius,” I breathe.

  He grins. “This is something I will never wish to damage, Drucilla. You trust me, you have faith in me, and you have forgiven me for my wrongdoings.”

  “Have I?” I ask, my voice coming out all breathy.

  He chuckles, his hands gripping my ass in a hard squeeze. He pulls out of me almost all of the way, then he slides back inside, grinding his hips against my clit. Wrapping my arms around his shoulder, I hold him tightly as he repeats the motion.

  “You have,” he rasps, burying his face in my neck.

  He continues to take me, pulling almost all of the way out, slamming back inside, and grinding against my clit. Over and over. I am so lost to him, on edge, craving and waiting for more, to be taken over the edge.

  Then.

  He.

  Stops.

  His lips move up to my ear. He nips my lobe before I fee
l his warm breath against my ear. “You have forgiven me, admit it.”

  The bastard.

  Tiberius the orgasm-denying bastard.

  “You have forgiven me,” he growls, but he doesn’t move, his hips are perfectly still and he’s inside of me.

  My entire body trembles with need, but he doesn’t seem to care. He wants my response. He wants me to admit that I’ve forgiven him for what happened with Decima.

  I do.

  As much as I don’t want to, as much as I want to say once a cheater, always a cheater, I know that the circumstances just aren’t that simple.

  I have forgiven him. Long before tonight. Long before now. But saying it out loud, admitting it, that is a different story.

  “Oh, alright,” I sigh. “I’ve forgiven you.”

  He chuckles, then thankfully continues on his mission at hand and in just a few thrusts we’re both on the edge and ready to topple over into blissful release.

  TIBERIUS

  Once we’ve found our way to the bed, I wrap the covering around us and hold her against me. She’s been quiet since we finished. She has retreated back inside of herself, worried that I was not being truthful. Worried that for whatever reason, I will not be happy with her.

  “Drucilla,” I murmur as I glide my fingertips up and down her side.

  She hums but does not lift her head from my chest. I feel her fingers circle my nipple, her focus there instead of on me. It is a way to distract her, to keep her mind busy for the moment.

  Clearing my throat, I squeeze her hip, then slide my hand up her back and tangle my fingers in her hair before I tug her head backward. Her violet eyes meet mine and they don’t look wide or excited, they look—sad.

  “You are more than enough for me, melculum,” I rasp.

  “Children are important to you,” she breathes. “They are essential to your empire.”

  I hum, nodding my head, though I do not look away from her. “They are essential, but I think you may not understand exactly how my empire works,” I offer with a grin. “I can pass my empire down to a child, yes. I can also pass it down to whoever I wish.”

  “It’s not what you want, Tiberius. I’m not stupid,” she whispers, the purple tears of her heartache falling down her cheeks.

  Lifting my hand from her hip, I wipe her tears away only for more to appear. “You are indeed not stupid, Drucilla. However, you underestimate my need to take care of you, my desire for your trust, to make you happy.”

  “But you will be miserable.”

  “It could not happen, not with you at my side.”

  Love.

  I truly did not know it existed for me, yet here it is, in this woman—with this woman. I do love her. I would do anything for her—to keep her. Giving up my chance for an heir is easy when it means she will not be broken, she will not hurt, and we will have our happiness together.

  “We will talk of it no further, Drucilla. You are my mulier, we are committed to one another, there will be no others. Maybe we will have our own children, but if by chance we do not. All will be well and we will still be happy.”

  “How can you be so sure? You will resent me one day, Tiberius. You will hate me,” she whimpers.

  “You know this? You say it as if it is fact when indeed it is not. I do know that I have never felt love before you. I do know that the gods created you for me. I do know that there is no woman my body desires other than you. That is all that I know. I do not know the future, I am no seer.”

  I release her hair and wrap my hands around her hips, pulling her across my body and forcing her to straddle me. I grunt at the sensation of her warmth against my mentula. I immediately twitch beneath her and begin to harden.

  She looks down at me, her hair a sheet around her face. Gripping her hips, I grin up at her. “I know this for a fact, Drucilla. I know that you are my mulier. You are loved by me and I will make you happy until my dying breath. That is all that I can ensure.”

  Her lips tremble and violet tears continue to fall between us, but she surprises me. She adjusts herself, aligning my mentula with her center and sinks down along my length. My mulier rides me. It is better than I could have ever imagined, as she is better than I ever imagined possible.

  Once we are both spent, she falls forward, resting against my chest, her face nuzzling my neck. “I hope that the maga was wrong and that I can have your baby, Tiberius,” she whispers sleepily.

  “It matters not,” I rasp as my fingers glide up and down her back, closing my eyes and relishing her body pressed against my own.

  She hums. “I want little warriors that look exactly like their father.”

  I don’t respond, because I immediately envision a little girl who looks exactly like her. Long blonde hair, violet eyes, a smile that could melt the fiercest warrior and confidence beyond all other women, because I would make sure that she knew exactly who she was—a regina.

  We fall asleep, my softening mentula inside of Drucilla’s warmth.

  I know this is exactly where I have always belonged. Where Drucilla was meant to be. Maybe we will have children, maybe the maga is correct and we will not. It doesn’t matter, because we have one another and that is all that we need.

  I am too content. I let my guard down and not long after I’ve drifted off to sleep, Diaboli decides to play his games.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  DRUCILLA

  I feel strong fingers wrap around my throat and I lift my hands and scratch at the hand, trying to pry the fingers away before I even open my eyes to see who it is. When I finally work up the courage to look at my assailant, I cry out and my body begins to tremble in fear.

  It’s Chad, well not Chad, but Diaboli in Chad’s body. I don’t know why he continues to take this bastard’s form, I’ve seen the real nasty him before. There’s nothing to hide at this point.

  He laughs, then pushes me away and releases his hold on me. I’m not able to stay upright, I fall down on my ass and attempt to catch my breath. He stands over me, tilting his head down, and watches me.

  “You know who I am now,” he rumbles.

  “I do,” I whisper.

  He nods once. “Then you know that you cannot stay alive, not with Tiberius.”

  “Why?” I ask.

  I’m stalling. I’m sure that I know enough about this to know why he doesn’t want me with Tiberius, to know that he doesn’t want the prophecy fulfilled.

  He wants the world to be a dark and ugly place, he wants it so that he can swoop in and take over all of it.

  He wants to rule as a giant fuck you to the gods.

  There is no other reasonable explanation, however, this is the God of the Underworld, he doesn’t need to be reasonable.

  “You are going to be mine, Drucilla. It is not enough that you simply die. You must be mine and he must see it. He must know it. He must be pained because of it.”

  Deciding not to bait him, I don’t say a word. I stare at the man, the Devil himself, and I don’t give him a reaction. This probably pisses him off even more, but I don’t care. If he is going to do this, or at least try, then he will get nothing from me—absolutely nothing.

  “He will fight for you, will he not?” he asks.

  Lifting my chin in the air, I look down my nose at him, refusing to answer. Now that does piss him off. Diaboli takes a few steps toward me. Reaching down, he grabs a fistful of my hair and snaps my neck backward so hard that I’m surprised it doesn’t break.

  “Answer me when I ask you a direct question,” he growls.

  “He will. To the death,” I grind out.

  “Good, watching him die will be satisfying.”

  My lips curve up into a grin. “I didn’t say until his death, I said until the death. It will be you who dies,” I hiss, somehow feeling brave for the moment.

  Diaboli chuckles, leaning forward. He touches his lips to mine. “I am a god, Drucilla. He will never best me.”

  Deciding it’s time for me to shut the hell up, I press
my lips together and don’t say another word. Not a single damn word. I don’t need to say anything, because Diaboli is all worked up and he releases me, then starts to pace.

  I watch him walk back and forth in front of me muttering to himself. I take the moment to look around and take in my surroundings. Looking around, I let out a small grunt at the sight of the room in front of me.

  I’m in a dark, dank, rock room. It’s much like the place I was held captive for a short time in Curia. I don’t know what kinds of powers he holds. Maybe he could have spirited me away to another island in my sleep, who knows.

  When Diaboli stops pacing, he turns to face me, his eyes red and angry as he watches me for a long moment. I’m afraid to move, to speak, hell I’m even afraid to think. My entire body trembles as I watch him. His lips curve up into an evil smile and he looks exactly like the devil that he is.

  “Are you frightened of me?” he asks.

  I could try to put on a false bravado, but he would see right through me. Licking my lips, I nod my head once. “I am,” I breathe. “Where are we?” I chance asking.

  It comes out like a blurt and I just watch him, waiting to see what he will do next.

  “We’re in my home away from home,” he says, but the words come out like a hissed purr.

  “Your home away from home?” I ask.

  He hums, then walks toward me again and crouches down. When he reaches forward and circles my nipple, I gasp. I hadn’t realized that I’ve been naked this entire time. He literally plucked me from Tiberius’ bed, maybe even while he was still inside of me.

  “If I tell you, then there is no fun in that,” he says with a grin. He tugs on my nipple, hard, and I let out a cry of pain. “You’ll get used to the pain, Drucilla. It is all I deliver. You must learn to find the pleasure in it, or eternity will be miserable for you.”

  “Eternity?” I ask.

  He chuckles, his voice deep and harsh in a way that I have never heard before. Then I have to remember that he isn’t human, his sounds and mannerisms are just attempts at being human, but he is not.