He takes a step back, a gasp escaping his lips as his wide eyes turn to Tiberius.
“Venefica,” he hisses.
Then he starts to speak so quickly that even if I could understand him, I’m not sure I would be able to as his mouth is moving so quickly.
“What is happening?” I ask Marcellus on a whisper.
“You’re a witch. This should not be a surprise to you,” he states matter-of-factly. “What we want to know is what do you want with Tiberius?”
“I am not a witch,” I hiss. “I don’t know what happened, but whatever happened, it’s because of your world and this fucking prophecy,” I snap. “It has absolutely nothing to do with me.”
There is a moment of silence after Marcellus relays my words to Tiberius. A long moment of silence, of us staring at one another, and then the anxiety starts to creep in. It starts to physically choke me.
At that same time, I don’t miss the way the rumble fills the room from outside or the fact that everyone’s gaze swings to me when it does. Then there’s the moment where purple flashes in the night sky.
That’s when I notice that Tiberius’ grip gets even tighter at the same time Marcellus slowly approaches me. The pontifex maximus starts to murmur something and anxiety fills me instantly.
“Tiberius,” I breathe, turning my head to look at him.
He doesn’t look back at me though. Instead, he keeps his jaw clenched hard and stares straight ahead. Something is wrong. Something is very, very wrong. Then I hear it, a howling. Laurentia gasps, but the howling only grows louder.
My heart jumps to my throat at the same time Tiberius shouts. My entire body is trembling with fear, I wasn’t even this scared when I appeared here out of nowhere, when Tiberius snatched me up and put me on his horse.
Nothing that has happened the past couple of days has been as scary as this exact moment.
“Tiberius?” I whisper.
“Turba lupi,” Tiberius grinds out.
I don’t know what that means. I start to tremble. Then he growls something else and I swing my gaze to Laurentia. Her eyes widen and her face instantly loses color. She looks sick, really sick. I want to ask her what is going on, but then Tiberius’ voice booms and everyone starts to move around.
Everyone but him, me, Laurentia, and the pontifex maximus. “You have called the wolves, Drucilla,” Laurentia translates as soon as Tiberius begins to speak.
“What?” I screech.
“The wolves,” Laurentia whispers. “You have called them. You have powers beyond compare. He has sent the men to ensure that the people are safe and that the wolves cannot find their way inside of the domum.”
“I didn’t call them,” I mutter.
Tiberius turns me around to face him, then he rises to his feet, dipping his chin to look down at me. His scarred face is directly in front of mine and it takes everything that I have not to reach up and touch him. I want to. I want to feel every part of him, especially now that I can truly see him in the candlelight.
He’s nothing I ever wanted and everything that I ache and lust for. He’s not perfect. He’s not pleasing to the eye. He is rough, scarred, his eyes hold pain and depths that I doubt I will ever be able to understand. And yet, I am falling for him.
“You did,” Laurentia whispers. “If you did not realize it, that is something we must figure out. This type of magic, it is not normal for a woman to yield and it is strong.”
“What do I do now?” I ask.
Tiberius jerks his chin up, then shifts his gaze from mine to the pontifex maximus. He shouts something and then I feel the man’s fingers wrap around my bicep.
“Tiberius?” I ask.
He turns away from me, almost as if he is shunning me. I don’t reach out for him, my pride being far too great for something like that. Instead, I clear my throat and shift my gaze to the old man.
He tugs me, and I go, my chin in the air and a silent curse. Though, I’m not sure why I’m so upset. I am not in a relationship with Tiberius, we don’t even know how to communicate with one another and up until this evening, I didn’t even know what he looked like.
Though, right now, I feel unexplainably—sad.
TIBERIUS
“Go with her, be at her side,” I growl toward the famulus. She dips her chin, then quickly runs after Drucilla and the pontifex maximus.
Marcellus and Brutus arrive a moment later. “She commands the wolves,” Brutus announces.
“How do you know?” I ask.
We can speak to animals. I command the bears, and we as men can all speak with our horses. But nobody can speak with the wolves, not that I have ever known, and for it to be a woman, it does not seem possible.
Women do not hold such powers, not with animals. Not that I have ever seen or heard.
“As soon as she was taken, they started to whine. They are now circling the domum, no doubt trying to find their concubina.”
Instead of sitting, I walk over to the window and look down below. Brutus did not lie, the wolves are indeed agitated and circling, searching.
“What do we do?” I ask as soon as the door opens. I know who enters without even needing to turn around, it is the pontifex maximus.
The room is quiet for a moment, then he begins to speak, his voice frail and trembling. “She is strong, Emperor. Very strong. Though, I believe her when she says that she does not realize this about herself. She is strong, but she is not in control.”
“The ancient prophecy of the gods, what do you know about this?” I ask as I turn around to finally face him.
I watch as his face pales before my eyes. He knows of this mysterious prophecy that the beast told me of. I’m not sure what he knows
