We spend the night eating and drinking with one another and it reminds me of a simpler time, before I was the emperor, when I was simply Tiberius. Although, with these men, I have always been nothing except Tiberius.
“What is it like?” one of my men, Antonio, asks me.
“What is it like?” I play dumb, knowing that he must be referring to Drucilla in some way or another.
He watches me for a moment, then his lips curve up into a grin. “Being chosen by the gods, the prophecy, a woman who has been designed and created just for you?”
I don’t think I had thought about that before, about the fact that she was created solely for me. She was though, just for me. There is nobody else that her body was made for, but to please mine. It should anger me that she gave herself to another before we found our way to one another, but I cannot seem to be bothered by that.
“I do not know yet. I have not had a moment to think about it all,” I confess.
He shakes his head with a smile. A few moments later, we all turn in for the evening, exhausted from the last three days’ ride toward the bottom of this gigantic mountain.
Lying down on my small bedroll, I look up at the sky. The purple stars twinkle in the sky and I can’t help but notice that they are the same color as Drucilla’s eyes. A lot in my country matches those orbs of hers and I decide that it must have been done intentionally by the gods themselves.
Closing my eyes, I fall asleep immediately, but not for long.
A chill slides over my entire body and I suck in a gasp as my eyes widen and I try to sit up to grab my gladius. I can’t move. I am frozen to my bedroll and a purple mist surrounds me. I can’t do anything but look straight up into that purple mist.
Chapter Fourteen
DRUCILLA
I let out a scream, but no sound comes out. The world around me slowly fades as I am surrounded by a purple mist. If Laurentia was right, that mist can only mean one thing—witchcraft.
Shit.
Shifting my gaze to where Tiberius is standing, I watch him vanish before my eyes. I try to reach out to him, I call out to him, but not only am I unable to speak, I’m also unable to move. Then everything goes completely dark.
Moaning, I roll onto my back. Opening my eyes, I stare at the dark stone ceiling and push myself up to a seated position. The bed I’m lying on is soft, the room dark and all stone. Standing, I rush toward the door and try to pull it open, when it doesn’t budge, I push. It still doesn’t move.
Lifting my fist in a panic, I bang on the thick wooden door. Nobody comes to my aid, in fact, it’s complete silence inside of this windowless room and outside. My entire body starts to tremble and I take a few stumbling steps backward before I collide with the bed.
My ass sinks down onto the mattress and I tremble.
I’m terrified.
I want Tiberius.
Tears form and I silently beg for them to not fall down my cheeks, but I fail. They fall and when they land on my hands in my lap, they’re purple.
“What the hell?” I breathe.
Just as the words leave my lips, the door swings open. Lifting my head, I blink at the woman standing in front of me. She’s stunning, absolutely beautiful. I don’t know who she is, but her white-blonde hair and green eyes are focused directly on me.
“You are home, Drucilla,” she says, her voice melodic and soft.
“Home?” I ask.
She nods her head, holding out her hand for me. I hesitate taking her offered palm. I don’t know her, I don’t know anything about this world. I do know Tiberius and I know that while he isn’t perfect, he is my husband.
“This is where you belong. It’s where you were meant to be,” she breathes.
Shaking my head, I stay seated. “The prophecy said that I was meant to be with my husband, with my warrior,” I state.
Her eyes narrow and her upper lip snarls. Her beauty fades before my eyes or maybe I am finally seeing her. She takes a step toward me, bending slightly at the waist as her gaze focuses on mine.
“The prophecy will not come to fruition,” she snaps.
“Why? What have these people done to you?” I ask.
She continues to snarl at me, then shakes her head once. “Everything. They have done everything and I will ensure that this prophecy stays undone. Making him unable to love was clearly not enough. Now, we must keep you apart.”
“You made Tiberius unable to love?”
She stands tall, her snarl disappearing as smugness crosses her face. “When he was born. The gods, a specific god, called to me. I knew who Tiberius was deigned to be. I knew he could not love his intended or the prophecy would come to fruition.”
“And this would be bad because?” I ask, trying to stall.
I don’t know what I’m stalling for, but there is a sliver of hope inside of me that Tiberius will crash through this place at any given second. If the woman in front of me senses that I’m stalling, she doesn’t say a word, instead, she continues to talk.
“When the prophecy comes to fruition, my sisters and I won’t be the ones in charge of the world any longer. Your…” She pauses, then snarls again. “Offspring, will be the most powerful beings on this earth. Can you imagine all of that given to a child?”
“What are you going to do to the children?” I whisper.
I don’t know if my sisters have found their men or if they have had children, but it seems like that’s what happens here, immediately. Meet man, have sex with man, marry man, make babies and I have a
