“Aeliana, how is your husband?” Decima asks, purring the words and knowing exactly what she is saying.
Aeliana laughs. “If you are trying to anger me into making a mistake, into giving you an inch to try and defeat me, you are sadly mistaken. Your magi is gone with that metal around you, and I am thousands of years older than you. I will not be taken down by childish games.”
Decima growls. “I am with child, you would not harm an innocent.”
Aeliana snorts. “You are not. Do not attempt to fool me. I can smell a babe at conception. You think of me as some sort of novice, of which I am not.”
Hearing Aeliana confirm that there is no child causes me to release a sigh of relief. Turning to Aeliana, I clear my throat. She shifts her gaze to me, and her lips curve up into a smile. Ignoring Decima tied to a pole, she closes the distance between us and places her hand against mine.
“I have found her, she is with a venefica. A weak one, but one nonetheless.”
“She said they did not have them there,” I point out.
Aeliana shakes her head, her smile still firmly in place. “They hide, and they are weak, but I can help her. I will help her.”
“Do not,” Decima shouts. “Why do you help?”
Aeliana takes a step back and lifts her hand. The purple mist shoots out of her hand and surrounds Decima.
“Devilrise has already begun suffering from the fallout of the prophecy being started and unfulfilled. Their people are growing sick, their railroad is having injury after injury as they attempt to build it to bring peace and unity amongst their people.
“Bunafi is having problems on the battlefield as they attempt to take back their lands that the king so selfishly and traitorously gave away. Not that it matters to you, but this matters in the grand scheme of the world and I will not allow it to fall, not because you are hungry for power.”
Aeliana’s words surprise me, I hadn’t known about any of these things. None of them until she spoke them.
“Your words, they’re true?” I ask.
She nods her head, her gaze finding mine. “When you left, I contacted my people, worried that it had started and I was right. The moment Decima deceived you, the fall began. We must mend this. We must bring your fated back and you must fall in love with her and she you.”
“I do love her,” I admit.
She shakes her head. “You have tried to talk yourself into this, but you do not understand true love yet. You will, Emperor.”
“Will it be too late?” I ask, knowing that she is likely right.
“I am maga, but I do not know how to read the future, I am not a seer. I hope that it is not too late.”
DRUCILLA
Valeria watches me. She doesn’t say anything, her gaze just travels to me throughout the day. I’m not sure what is supposed to happen next, but I don’t think watching me is going to get me closer to traveling to some parallel universe and Tiberius.
She claimed that she had feelers out there, but I’ve yet to see her even glance at her phone. Shouldn’t it be ringing? Text messages going off maybe? Something? But it doesn’t happen. She watches me, helps me, and cooks for me all day long, and into the evening.
Once I’ve been fed and forced myself to move around a little, I decide to ask Valeria what the hell we’re going to do next. Just when I’ve worked up my energy, I open my mouth and her phone rings.
I watch as she picks it up, her brows snapping together as she stares at the screen, then she slides her finger across and puts it up to her ear. She doesn’t say a single word the entire conversation, she only listens.
Then she ends the call, not a single word spoken. Not even hello. I watch her, waiting for her to say something. She doesn’t. At least, not right away. Instead, she watches me.
“Well?” I ask after a long silence.
Her gaze finds mine, she holds it for a long moment and I’m about to seriously lose my shit, then she speaks.
“There is nobody strong enough here, in this country at least that can send you back. Transportation takes a lot of power.”
“What happens now?” I breathe.
She continues to watch me, not speaking as her eyes search my own. I want to cry, I want to seriously break down and cry, but I don’t. Instead, I inhale a deep breath and my gaze focuses on hers.
“Where do I go?” I ask.
I wait for her to speak, and again, she doesn’t say anything. Then, her words hit me like a ton of bricks. “Even if you found the ten most powerful witches in the world, they would not have enough power. I’m sorry, I don’t think we can help you. Perhaps he will find someone there who can call you back to him.”
Anger courses through my veins. Why in the shit would the gods send me back here, unless they weren’t gods at all? Sure, they fought off those bitches, but what if they were in disguise. Because if they were truly gods, wouldn’t they send me somewhere that I could easily bounce from and get back to my fated prophecy shit?
“This is bullshit,” I snap. “Bull fucking shit.”
Valeria’s lips twitch into a small smile. Then something happens, there is a loud bang and the door flies open. Valeria spins around in her seat to face the door and gasps. I can’t gasp, I can’t make a sound or even move.
Chad is back.
He’s not just back, he’s back and he looks… terrifying. I can’t move, I am frozen in my spot and I stare at him wondering what he’s going to do, because judging by the way he’s staring at me, it’s nothing good.
“Run,” Valeria whispers.
I don’t move. My mind tells my legs to
