Bride of the Emperor (The Prophecy of Sisters Book 4) by Hayley Faiman (the gingerbread man read aloud txt) 📗

“What on earth?” I hear gasped behind me.

Closing my eyes, I try to make my face impassive. I’m certain that it doesn’t work. Turning around, I hold out my hand to my mulier. Drucilla slips her palm in mine, but she doesn’t look at me, not for a moment. She has locked eyes on Decima and she is not looking away.

“Aeliana has come to help us, she has had a vision of sorts,” I attempt to explain.

“And she’s brought her?” Drucilla hisses.

“I have and, in the end, you will see that it was a wise choice, even if you cannot in this moment,” Aeliana states. There is zero room for argument, and I find it hard not to chuckle at her simple words.

Drucilla doesn’t say anything, but just glancing at her profile, I can see the hard look she is giving Decima. When I look to the other woman, I shake my head at the smug expression she wears. Decima has not figured it out yet, Drucilla may not be in complete control of her powers, but she has them, in abundance.

“Well, come and break your fast, Aeliana. Tell me what you have seen.”

Aeliana looks up to the sky, then shifts her gaze down to the ground before she lifts her eyes to meet my own. “It will not be long, Tiberius,” she whispers.

Chapter Thirty-Two

TIBERIUS

Decima stays in the garden, as if she is on display, and no matter how many times I attempt to tell Aeliana that we can put her elsewhere, she shrugs and says that she needs her there, because it will not be long.

Drucilla sits close to my side as we watch Aeliana break her fast. I don’t say anything, unsure that I wish to know what is going to happen according to her vision, but Drucilla cannot wait.

“Tell me what’s happening,” Drucilla practically begs.

Aeliana stops mid-reach for some food, her gaze lifting and connecting to hers. “You are the empress now and you should know all the comings and goings in this country and world,” Aeliana announces. “But you are not ready for it all.”

“I think I should know what awaits me, shouldn’t I?”

Aeliana presses her lips together, shifting her gaze from me to Drucilla, then back to me again before finally landing on Drucilla.

“In the end, the premonition is nothing more than a dream. It does not foretell the future, I am not a seer.”

“Then why come all this way?” I ask.

Aeliana arches a brow. “If it does come true, I wish to protect my emperor. I find that I quite like him. He is fair,” she murmurs.

I can’t hide the surprise on my face, of this I’m sure. So, I laugh. “You may stay as long as you feel necessary.”

“It will not be long,” she says with a shrug, then begins to eat again, the conversation seemingly over.

Turning my head, I look over to Drucilla, who faces me and widens her eyes. My lips curve up into a grin and I lean forward, touching my mouth to hers. “All will be well,” I murmur against her mouth.

Aeliana chuckles. “It will be well, but mostly because I am here and I am prepared.”

I open my mouth to say something, but I’m cut off when there is loud screaming from the gardens. We all stand and rush out there.

“She is bound, her magic is not available to her right now,” Aeliana says as if she’s trying to convince herself of such a thing.

Once we are outside, it is clear to see that it is not Decima that is causing the screams. There is a gigantic dragon that is flying down to earth, then a flying horse. The sisters have arrived.

“What?” Drucilla breathes.

Wrapping my arm around her waist, I tug her against my side. “Your sisters are here, melculum.”

“What?” she exhales on a whisper.

Clearing my throat, I squeeze her waist with my fingers. “Your sisters have arrived. Let us go to them.”

“It seems perhaps I am a seer,” Aeliana mutters behind us.

Before we run to the sisters, I turn toward Aeliana. Curious about her words. “What have you seen, Maga?” I demand.

She attempts to look sheepish, but I do not look away from her, my gaze staying focused on hers. She is hundreds of years old, she is not sheepish by any means. She has seen something and she’s avoiding telling me. I want to know what it is and how we are going to devise a plan to make it not happen.

“The gods did not take into account that you and your fated match would have an issue conceiving,” she whispers.

“An issue?” I ask.

She nods. “She should have been pregnant by now. They sent her back to her world, they did this to protect her, but in doing it, they did something that is now irreversible.”

“Are you saying I can’t ever have children?” Drucilla rasps.

Aeliana shifts her gaze from me to Drucilla, and I watch as her eyes soften. “I do not know if it is never. I just know that it is not now and for the prophecy to have its positive effect on the land, on the world, you must be with child.

“Your sisters have all already had children or are with child. You’re leaving, then coming back, it did something. It caused a problem and the negative effects of the prophecy are in motion and for whatever reason, they seem to be unable to stop.”

“What will happen?” I growl.

Aeliana turns to me again. “I am unsure of what the future holds, but I believe that Diaboli is going to make a return, as are the other venefica from Curia. This will all happen in an attempt to take over, as was their plan all along.”

“We need a plan put into place,” I growl.

“I can’t have a baby,” Drucilla mutters to herself.

There is a moment of silence and I look down at my beautiful mulier, who is heartbroken. I want nothing more than to console her and remind her that