“The warriors will celebrate.”
“The ones who are still alive?” I ask.
He snorts. “Those men were not my warriors. Those men were entertainment. My warriors will celebrate tonight and they will allow the winner of the games to become one of them.”
“Are you saying those men are slaves?” I ask, suddenly feeling sick to my stomach for enjoying the games so much.
“This bothers you,” Tiberius announces.
My eyes widen and I lean forward. “Greatly,” I exhale. “They were fighting for their lives, not just for sport, but to be the sport I…”
Tiberius holds up his hand. “Had they been free men, you would have enjoyed the games more? The killing, the sport?”
Wrinkling my nose, I decide that I don’t particularly like the sound of either of them. I shouldn’t enjoy them killing each other at all, no matter their status. Licking my lips, I look down at my lap, then lift my gaze up to meet his again.
“I’m conflicted,” I admit.
Tiberius’ lips curve up into a grin. “You are open to the Savonaian life, melculum. There is nothing wrong with enjoying one of our greatest pastimes. Servi or free man matters not, these games have been part of our traditions since the gods created them. They are part of us.”
“What if it was volunteer basis only?” I ask.
Though, I do not speak the words too loudly knowing that if anyone heard, they probably wouldn’t like the idea of me suggesting things to the emperor. I’ve seen enough movies to know that the new woman who comes in and changes shit is the first to get offed.
“This could be a possibility,” he says, though it sounds as if he wants the conversation dropped, so I decide to do just that.
Tiberius stands and offers his hand to me. “Now, we celebrate,” he says. “Though you will not enjoy the celebration, it is tradition that we appear. We will not join in, we are there as a symbol only, you understand this?”
Turning my head, I look back to see if Cassia and Laurentia are coming with us, but they’re already walking away, in the opposite direction.
“Like last night, this is something that Cassia is not allowed to join in, and Laurentia is not obligated to now that she is your charge,” he murmurs.
My stomach sinks as I realize what his words mean. This is going to be a sex thing. “Tiberius,” I breathe.
He doesn’t stop, but he does tug me close to his side, grabbing ahold of my hand and lifting it as he holds it close to his chest. “Do not worry overly, melculum. You are required to do nothing other than watch. It would be a grave insult if you did not observe.”
“It’s a sex thing though?” I ask.
He chuckles. “A celebration, but yes, my people celebrate with copious amounts of sexual pleasures.”
I want to tell him hell no. I want to go back to my room and pretend none of it exists, but I can’t. I’m the empress now, and as much as I want to run away, I can’t.
He is making a concession to his traditions by not forcing the issue, by not requiring me to participate or participating himself.
I need to suck it up and go.
“Just observe?” I ask.
He hums, dipping his chin as he touches his mouth to my fingers that he’s still holding against his chest. “Just observe, mulier.”
“I can do that, at least I think that I can.”
“You can,” he exhales as we walk toward a large building.
It’s not the same place that we went to last night, it’s at least double the size and when I walk in, I gasp at the sight before me. It’s not the same size as last night because there are about triple the amount of people. They’ve started the party without us too.
There is food and wine scattered everywhere amongst the completely nude bodies that litter the place. Last night, I was completely caught off guard and horrified by the scene in front of me. Tonight I’m still slightly horrified, but I’m coming in with an open mind.
My newly found open mind is merely because I am not being required to join in and I feel much more comfortable about that. Tiberius and I walk through the crowd and although I felt like a queen earlier today, I feel like even more of one right now for whatever reason.
Keeping my back straight, we walk through the people who are in various sexual positions and acts, all of which stop to turn to us and dip their heads in a small bow.
We make our way up to two golden chairs up on a large pedestal. Tiberius helps me to my chair before he takes the seat next to mine. Again, I notice that his chair is larger than mine. It’s okay because he looks seriously hot as he sits, straight spined and looking at his people before him.
Shifting my gaze from Tiberius, I look out at the people as well. They continue with their orgy, their respects paid to their emperor and their physical pleasure now at the forefront.
Looking around the room, I see various things happening. Lots of oral pleasures, lots of threesomes. Lots of man on man, and to be honest, that’s the hottest and what my eyes are drawn to the most.
“Have you ever, with another man?” I ask, out of curiosity more than anything else.
Tiberius hums. “I have not, but Marcellus enjoys it immensely.”
“Is he…”
“He says that he wishes to marry. I thought him merely attracted to only men, he surprises me consistently,” Tiberius offers. “Is this not done in your world?”
Turning to him, I smile. “It is done,” I say. “Maybe not this… freely?”
He chuckles. “Yes, I’ve gathered that your world is not as free with their sexuality as mine is.”
“It bothers you?”
Tiberius shakes his head. “It was
