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

and wild. I don’t know if she’s as scared as I am, but she does look tired, near exhausted.

“We need to channel our powers. We all have them and there has to be some way that we can use them together.”

“Holding hands, maybe,” Birdie calls out.

Sybilla lowers her hands from holding them up to face and fight Diaboli, then turns to face me. Taking another step closer, Liv and Birdie do the same.

“Here goes nothing,” I whisper.

We lock hands, close our eyes, and basically hope.

Something stirs deep in my belly, that warmth that I usually feel when I’m alone with Tiberius, when I feel that need for him, it begins to form. My eyes pop open and I wonder how in the hell I can be horny right now, but when I look around the circle, I see the same looks of mixed confusion on my sisters’ faces.

Then something happens. That need and desire, it’s replaced by something else. Something I can’t quite place. But it doesn’t matter, because just as it comes, it goes. It doesn’t disappear though, instead a big ball of golden light escapes and forms in the center of our circle.

“Holy shit,” Liv whispers.

We watch it, unsure of what it is going to do next. “It reminds me of the black blob,” Birdie breathes.

I have no clue what she’s talking about, but right now it doesn’t matter. Then, the ball of golden light starts to move.

We watch silently, the fighting still happening around us, but for whatever magical reason, it doesn’t affect us at all. We are focused on the light and we watch as it floats above us, then as suddenly as it formed from the four of us, it splits off into four straight lines and aims directly at our husbands.

“Oh my,” Birdie breathes.

The light fills our husbands. We watch as their backs arch the instant they are filled with the golden light, and then a haze of gold surrounds them. They are full of magic, our magic, and I wonder if this is the prophecy at work or something different?

Tiberius rushes toward us. He stands behind me, his back against my own. The rest of the men do the same, forming a protective wall around us.

“You cannot win, not even with your microscopic amounts of magic,” Diaboli announces with a growl.

He is wrong. I know that he is. No way would the gods put this in motion if we didn’t have a chance of winning. We just have to come together. We have to fight and now that we were somehow able to transfer some power to our men, I feel like we have a better shot.

The wolves growl in the background, the bears roar at the same time the dragon lets out a burst of flames.

“Fight,” Tiberius yells over the loud noise.

The men turn toward Diaboli and his women, and they charge them. Aeliana screams as she comes over to stand in front of us and holds her hands out. A purple spark of light comes from her hands. The four of us hold our hands out and focus as well.

Together we all pummel the witches and Diaboli simultaneously with it. I don’t know how long we’ll be able to do this, I can already feel myself weakening.

I don’t give up though.

I cannot let this person, this devil win. This man who tried to take me from Tiberius. This man who was all set to torture me for life, in turn torturing Tiberius, too.

The witches, Diaboli, they cannot win. “Stay strong,” Aeliana grinds out.

We help as much as we can while the men fight. They fight hard, then the wolves come in for backup and I hear the witches scream. It’s a blood-curdling wail and I can’t help but smirk. Between the wolves, the bears, and the magic, the women are brought down.

Diaboli is next. Except Aaric turns to look over his shoulder at Aeliana. “We must perform the Blood Eagle, it is the only way to ensure that he does not return.”

“It’s true,” Aeliana rasps. “Do you know this ritual?” she asks, her gaze focused on Aaric.

Aaric smirks, it’s cocky as shit and I can see why my sister fell for him without knowing a word of his language. He looks so much like Tiberius, and I shift my gaze to my husband. He looks battered and bruised, he looks defeated, and my heart instantly squeezes at the sight of him.

“I know of this, as does Liv. But it cannot just be the two of us, it must be all eight of us.”

Elias grunts. “My queen will not,” he growls. “That is an animalistic ritual. I cannot allow this.”

Colt snorts. “I’m all for protecting our women, but Elias, I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure Birdie is safe. If this is going to do that, sign us up for the first slice of the knife.”

“It will,” Aeliana says. “It is the only way.”

“How do you know so much and yet, you’ve allowed this to happen and didn’t stop it yourself?” Tiberius asks.

Aeliana smiles, her eyes finding his, then she dips her chin. “I could only aid you and give advice, I cannot fight for you or defend you entirely. The eight of you must do it all on your own.”

“Why?” Sybilla asks.

Aeliana’s smile grows larger. “Because I am not simply, a maga, I am a goddess.”

Chapter Thirty-Seven

TIBERIUS

Decima’s charred body is discarded with the remains of the four witches who have been burned, mauled, and eaten by the wolves and bears. I cannot say that I feel sorry for them, as I do not.

Diaboli’s body replaces Decima’s charred remains on the pole. He is still alive, but the longer he lives, the more uneasy that I feel. He almost ruined my life, stole my Drucilla, and destroyed the world as we know it. The sooner he can be done away with, the better.

I have never heard of the Blood Eagle ritual, but even at its most disturbing, I am