“This was not the bathhouse,” he says as his sole explanation.
I’m going to kill him. I honestly don’t know how he has survived this long. “Tiberius,” I snap.
I don’t realize it’s happening, not until it’s in the middle of happening and by then I don’t know how to stop it, not that I would have from the beginning anyway.
TIBERIUS
Smoke surrounds me. It looks much like Decima’s purple haze, but it is not as weighty as hers. This is all Drucilla. I am also not frozen in my spot with Drucilla’s smoke. Though, I don’t chance making my way toward her, because she is extremely upset and angry.
“Drucilla,” I call out.
Her head snaps and her eyes narrow on me. Then something happens, something that I didn’t know she could do. Although, I don’t know the limitations of her powers, and I’m not sure I will ever know.
Purple light flashes in her eyes and my entire body is thrown backward, I slide along the stone floor and my back slams into the wall. I groan as the pain radiates throughout my entire back. I was taken completely off guard, shaking the confused feeling from my head, I stand straight and clear my throat.
“Drucilla,” I snap.
She is too angry to reason with. She tips her head backward and I watch as her back arches to an extreme angle, then light pours out of her, purple light that matches her eyes. I watch, unable to move.
It is beautiful and terrifying all at the same time.
When her feet leave the ground, when she begins to float, that is when I spring into action. I am not used to this, magi, but I am a warrior and I cannot let her run from me. I cannot watch her disappear again, I will not allow it.
Hurrying toward her, I wrap my arms around her waist and I bring her to the floor. Lifting my hand, I am careful to cradle her head so that she does not crack her skull against the hard stone flooring.
I cover her body with my own, though she struggles beneath me, I do not allow her freedom. She is mine and she is not leaving me, not ever again. When she stops thrashing beneath me, I lift my hands and cradle the sides of her face, my nose just centimeters from her own.
“It bothers you this much?” I ask, keeping my voice soothing and calm.
Tears fill her eyes and I watch as they leak violet streaks down the sides of her face. Using my thumb, I wipe them away.
“It is done here, melculum. If you are to be here, you must learn our way of life. Sex is not taboo. It is not something you only share with your spouse. This, right here, between us, this respect and trust, this commitment to be married, it is not sex.”
“To me, it is all the same. Commitment means only sharing your body with me,” she whispers through trembling lips.
She’d tried to tell me in the bathhouse and I understood, but at the same time, I did not truly understand.
“This confuses me, I cannot imagine being so confined,” I admit.
The look of pain that crosses her face, it is more than I can bear. She whimpers and I know that it is in agony. Lowering my face, I touch my lips to hers, but she does not attempt to kiss me back, she is broken. My beautiful mulier is broken by my world, by my country’s traditions and I do not know how to fix that.
“Please leave me alone.”
“Never,” I rasp against her lips.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
DRUCILLA
I’m sure that Tiberius knows I silently cried all night long. The next morning, he isn’t lying next to me when I wake up and I feel… devastated.
Last night was fun until it was a nightmare. Tiberius held me all night long, he didn’t just hold me, he held me and it was tight and beautiful. If some of the night hadn’t been so awful, I would have reveled in the closeness as we slept.
Rolling over onto my back, I stare at the ceiling and wonder what in the actual hell were the gods thinking? Then I wonder if my sisters are going through, or went through the same thing? My eyes widen in panic when I think about them having full-on orgies with a bunch of strangers.
I don’t get much time to analyze that and overthink it, because just as I’m thinking about Birdie or Liv having to not only share their men, but themselves too, the door to the bedroom opens.
Turning my head, I expect to see Tiberius strolling in wearing his little man-skirt and nothing else. I feel a little deflated when it’s Laurentia making her way in carrying a flat wooden tray filled with food.
“The emperor wanted me to bring you something to break your fast,” she murmurs.
Nodding, I sit up and throw my legs over the bed, making my way to the small stall in the back of the bedroom. It’s a very old-fashioned, basically archaic, bathroom. I do my business, in a big seemingly endless hole, then use the pot of water and soap to wash my hands.
Going back to Laurentia, I walk over to the small table where she has set the tray down. I’m wearing nothing but a practically sheer white gown, but seeing as Laurentia has seen every square inch of my body, I don’t bother even pretending to be embarrassed.
There is fruit, cheese, and bread on the platter, which normally I love, but today I feel very lackluster about everything. I don’t even want to think about the magic that just spilled out of me last night either, that’s a totally different thing that happened.
“He came to me,” she whispers, breaking the silence.
My heart begins to hammer in my chest and I freeze, lifting my eyes to meet hers, I wait
