The penny dropped.
“And that’s why you are seeking out the power you believe exists. You want the problem to go away, for the people to be happy while you expand and convert the rest of the world.”
“See!” he cried. “You are far cleverer than the others.” He leant closer, his fingers letting go of my hand and lifting to my face. “That’s why you shall be my wife.”
“Blah blah blaaah.” My tongue almost lolled out of my mouth.
“Messalina has betrayed me one time too many. Soon she shall have the option to end her own life.”
“Your wife now? How has she betrayed you?”
We’d reached a wide curved fountain. The stone was a warm terracotta, and he gestured for me to sit on it which I did, the warmth of the residual heat from the sun spreading through the cotton of my dress.
“She has cheated on me, taken other lovers.” His gaze remained settled on my face, and he didn’t exactly look cut up by the state of his marriage. “I’d expect her to take other lovers, but when she plots against my throne it means a different thing.”
“Aren’t you hurt that she cheats on you?”
His face crinkled as he thought of my question. “No, why would I be? The human will is weak, and I always knew that my destiny was not with her. She gave me a son, for which I am grateful, but in my soul I know I await another.”
This conversation could only go one way. Badly.
“But tell me, you and your woodsman; you didn’t expect him to be your only lover?” His voice dropped, and it locked tiny flames of desire along my insides. I flushed and cleared my throat.
I would never tell him that the woodsman and I had never consummated our feelings, but that I knew he would be the only one I’d ever love.
“Well, I heard Druid Priestesses were fearless leaders and that they chose their men and mated with whom they wanted.”
I held his gaze. “And I told you I was not yet a fully trained Priestess. And I certainly don’t have the power you desire.”
Wrong word choice. His gaze fell to my lips and he moved in closer, his breath with the slightest tang of mint brushing over my skin. His lips when they touched mine were warm, dry almost, like the plants around us. His thumb caressed my cheek as his tongue probed my closed mouth.
“Claudius!” He broke the kiss at the shrill sound of his name and we both turned—me gasping a breath—to face a woman in a long white dress. Her hair was elaborate and plaited around her head, her cheekbones could cut bread. Under the cotton of her dress, pulled in with a woven leather belt at the waist, her body was slender and angular.
“Messalina,” he growled. “Always the perfect timing.”
The tall woman had a number of female servants around her and they all tittered behind their hands until she raised her hands to silence them.
“I see you replace me already.”
“You replace yourself with your own actions.” He turned away from her, his face a callous mask.
She stared at me long and hard. “Watch your back, little witch, he will use you and then discard you.”
The gold energy I’d hidden in my safe place behind my heart flickered at her words. I knew what he would do. That’s why I’d never let him.
The gold thudded against my ribcage wanting to be set free, but I penned it in place.
I dropped my gaze and studied the stones at my feet.
“Back to your quarters. You no longer have freedom in my palace.” His instruction left no room for discussion. I didn’t watch as she turned and spun away. Her fate was sealed by her own actions, and I had the girls downstairs to worry about.
When she was gone, he flashed me a smile as though the whole scene hadn’t just played out. “Now, where were we?”
I stared at him, my gaze shrewd. “You were trying to release my magic by awakening my desire.”
He ran a hand through his hair and then resettled the golden laurel leaves in their proper place. “And did it?”
“I have no magic to awaken.”
“I can feel it in you, Druid, even with you hiding it deep inside. I told you, I’ve known this my entire life. I’ve waited for you; known you would come.”
“How? How did you know?”
He paused as though he were making a final debate with himself.
“Because I’m the same as you, Druid. We are the Gods of old, and I need you to make my own power come alive.”
I stared at him, utterly blank. “Pardon?”
“You really don’t know who you are?” His tone was one of disbelief. I realised then he truly thought I feigned ignorance.
“I’m Mae, a half-trained Druid priestess.”
“No. You are Maia; the goddess of growth and fertility and you are my wife; both earthly and heavenly.”
Emperor Claudius of the Roman Empire was off his head. Did they use opiates in Ancient Rome, because he was obviously as high as a kite?
“No.”
“Yes. I sense it in you. You are the one who can make my needs happen. If I am the god of war, then you are the one who can heal all the land that I take. You can bring bounty and regeneration. You are the fertility of the earth. Where I destroy, you grow. I cannot exist without you.”
“And the other girls?” I almost laughed.
His face was serious. “They are your children. Your power is your desire,” he added but I was barely listening. “It’s your godly gift to give the earth what it needs. And I need you.”
I couldn’t hear any more. My mind shut off with a simple snap and with it my eyesight and my grip on reality went to black.
Chapter Thirteen
I blinked my eyes open, the fresh air
