“Aeliana, you have done your duty,” Odium announces.
Amare takes a step toward her, I watch as she lifts her hand, wrapping her fingers around Aeliana’s and squeezes.
“You can come home now, the prophecy will continue the way that it is meant to. Diaboli is gone and in his rightful place.”
Aeliana turns from Amare to me, then back to Amare. “I would like for Tiberius and his empress to be able to conceive,” Aeliana says.
I hear Drucilla gasp in the distance, but I cannot look away from the divine. My gaze is frozen to theirs completely.
“There are no restrictions placed on them. Love is all that they need to produce an heir,” Odium states.
Then, before anyone can ask any questions, before another word is spoken, they disappear before us.
DRUCILLA
Turning to Tiberius, blood on my hands and my knees shaking, I fall to the ground. I can’t control myself, can’t stop myself. My legs completely go out from beneath me.
My sisters and their men are all a blur as they move around me to embrace one another. I can’t move though, I’m stuck on the ground, my body shaking.
Tiberius’ form appears in front of me, and I lift my gaze to look into his eyes. “You are okay, Drucilla,” he murmurs.
“Am I?” I ask.
He reaches out for me, gathering me in his arms, and picks me up like a child. I hear him barking out orders and there is the word burn in his orders, but I can’t concentrate on his words. Wrapping my arms around his shoulders, I bury my face in his neck and inhale his scent.
I’m alive.
We’re alive.
I don’t really know where he’s taking me and I don’t care. I feel as though I have been away from him for years rather than hours. I hear a door close and inhale a deep breath, smelling our space.
“What about my sisters?” I ask on a whisper.
He lowers me to the floor, my feet landing on the hard rock, but he doesn’t release me. His hands grip my waist and he dips his chin, his gaze locked in on mine. He lifts his hand, cupping my cheek as his eyes focus on my own, he searches and I feel as though he can see all the way throughout my entire body and soul.
“You were taken from me, from this bed, from my arms,” Tiberius growls.
“I was,” I breathe.
He frowns, his eyes never leaving my own. “I cannot protect you.”
“He was a god, Tiberius. He was not a mortal man.”
He dips his chin, touching his mouth to mine, and I whimper against his lips. “Yes, he was. But it is my duty to protect you, melculum.”
Laughing softly, I use my thumb and slide it across his bottom lip. My eyes trace the move before I lift them to meet his.
“I don’t know about your duties here, but in my world, the duty of protection falls equally amongst a married couple. I figure that’s not the same here, but maybe it is because I have magic and now you do too. Maybe we’re meant to protect one another.”
“Maybe,” he grunts. “Magi, it isn’t anything I’ve ever desired to possess.”
“And yet you do,” I say with a smile.
He hums, nipping the pad of my thumb that is still against his lips. “Yet, I do,” he rasps. “Though I am unsure of how to use it.”
“Me too, maybe we can learn together?”
His eyes widen slightly, then his lips curve up into a grin. “I know exactly what we can do together,” he says, his voice coming out as a low rumble.
Wordlessly, without an ounce of instruction, I lower to my knees in front of my husband—for my husband. He doesn’t try to stop me, and I discover that he is willing to forego traditions so that his wife can take him inside of her mouth. Thankfully, he is willing to do the same with me.
His clothes are gone by the time my knees gently touch the floor. His cock is hard, long, and ready for me. Opening my mouth, I look up through my lashes at him, leaning forward I touch my lips to the tip as I wrap my fingers around the backs of his thighs.
Opening my mouth wide, I lean forward and suck. He lets out a growl, one of his hands gripping the back of my hair, and he guides me at the rhythm that he wants. I don’t look away from him, our gazes are locked and he watches me take him.
I can feel him climbing closer toward his release, but then he stops, taking a step back, his chest rising and falling with his panting breaths.
“I need to taste you, melculum,” he growls.
I don’t question him. I don’t ask him if he truly does need it, or if it is just a tit for tat thing. I don’t ask because that’s not what we are. If he says he needs it, it doesn’t matter if it’s to make me happy, or because he truly wants to taste me.
The only thing that matters is that he is willing to give me what I need—compromise—this is marriage. And when we were first married, I didn’t think I would ever have this with him.
I practically jump to my feet and run to the bed, peeling my dress off of my body as I go. When I’m completely naked, I start to turn around and lie on the bed when I feel Tiberius’ hands span my waist from behind.
“I would like to taste you this way, bend over, Drucilla,” he orders, his voice low and raspy. His lips touch the side of my neck and goose bumps break out over my entire body. “Bend over, melculum.”
With a shiver, I do just as he instructs, and my husband makes me come within moments. Then, I come again when he’s inside of me. He fills me with his release and this time, it’s me who knows that we’ve created life.
I feel it
