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

Cassia, Laurentia, and Petronia make their way into the garden area. It’s all cleaned up from the fight, not a tree or pebble out of place. I should be questioning how that could have happened in such a short amount of time, but this world is magical and Tiberius is an emperor. Both are explanation enough.

Standing, my legs grow weak and I see spots as blackness creeps in on the edges of my vision. I’m forced to sink back down in my chair. Letting out a sigh, I look over to my sisters and notice that they’re all watching me with mixed expressions playing on their faces.

“What?” I ask.

“When was your last period?” Sybilla asks.

Licking my lips, I turn my head to the side, my eyes looking out at the trees in front of me. “Aeliana already said that I couldn’t have children,” I whisper, even though I really want her words to be a lie.

Liv hums, she reaches for my hand and wraps her fingers around the top, squeezing. “When was it, Dru?” she asks.

“What’s happening?” Cassia asks as she sits down on one of the empty benches.

Laurentia and Petronia set down trays with food and drinks before they take a few steps backward. Laurentia still won’t join me as a friend, at least not when others are present. I don’t push her.

“Dru almost passed out. We’re trying to find out when her last course was,” Sybilla says.

Course.

I almost giggle at the word, but Sybilla has been here longer and knows the lingo a lot better than I do.

“Have you had them at all while you’ve been here?” Cassia asks.

“No, she hasn’t,” Laurentia murmurs, her voice soft, but undeniable.

I blink. She’s right. I haven’t. I had my period when I was sent to Florida by Amare, like almost immediately after arrival, but not since then. Thinking back, I count how long it’s been since I was there.

Shit.

“It’s been weeks,” I whisper.

“How many?” Liv demands.

“Seven,” Laurentia says, answering for me.

I’m not even annoyed that she answered for me. I don’t think that I can speak for myself right now. Just the idea that it could be true has my mind spinning. Licking my dry lips, I look from each of my sisters, to Laurentia, then Cassia and back to Liv.

“It can’t be, they told me,” I whisper, repeating myself.

“They are gods, but they don’t have control over our bodies like that, not really,” Cassia says. “Perhaps they did to a degree, but sometimes nature, love, and the bond between two people overcome everything. Maybe after we defeated Diaboli. Didn’t the gods say something like that?”

“Ain’t that the truth,” Birdie murmurs. “They can’t control everything, Dru.”

I hear Laurentia sigh behind me, and I know she has to be thinking of Marcellus and the bond between two people. Anyone with eyes can see they’re hot for one another. I just hope that Marcellus makes a move before it’s too late.

“Well, how do we test it?” I ask, turning to Cassia who seems to know all.

I haven’t seen any drug stores around here with pregnancy tests, so I don’t even know how that’s done in an ancient Romanesque world. Cassia turns to Petronia, her lips curving up into a grin.

“Gather the grains,” she cries, then she leans forward and hands me a goblet. “Drink,” she demands.

“Drink?”

She nods her head. “You’ll urinate on the grains, wheat, and barley. We’ll check back in a few days. If the wheat is sprouted, you’re having a girl, the barley, a boy.”

“If nothing happens?” Sybilla asks.

“Then she is not with child,” Cassia murmurs.

The whole thing sounds nerve-wracking. I don’t think that I can wait days to know for sure. I should have thrown some pregnancy tests in my pocket and kept them there when I was back in Florida for such an occasion.

A few moments later, Laurentia and Petronia are back, seeds in hand. They look at me expectantly and nod to their hands, then again, as they watch me wide-eyed.

“Here?” I ask.

Cassia giggles. “Where else? This is the garden.”

“You want me to pee right here, outside?”

Liv snorts, at the same time so does Sybilla. I look over to them and narrow my eyes. “We’ve had to go in worse places and circumstances. Don’t be a baby, pee on the grains,” Liv says with a laugh.

“I hate you,” I grind out.

“Hey,” Birdie calls out. “Remember the time we went to the Grand Canyon?” she asks between giggles.

“Oh my god,” Liv cries as she starts to laugh.

“What?” I ask.

They’re all pointing and laughing, to the point of hyperventilating, but none of them are telling me what’s so damn funny. I don’t even remember going to the Grand Canyon.

“Dru had to go pee,” Sybilla wheezes.

“What?” I demand again.

“She had to pee so bad. She wasn’t going to make it and we were in the middle of nowhere. There was nothing but Native American ruins around us.”

“No,” I whisper.

“Dad was so worried that you were going to go in the car, and Mom was arguing with him that you very well couldn’t go on the ruins. That would desecrate them. Then Dad told her, where do you think they went a thousand years ago?” Liv says through her laughter.

Pinching my eyes closed, I’m glad that I was so young that I suppressed these memories because I don’t want to remember them at all. Nothing about them. Not a single thing.

“What happened?” Cassia asks, obviously intrigued by the completely embarrassing story my sisters are telling about me.

Sybilla calms herself. “Dad stopped the car, stomped around to the side, and poor Dru was squirming so bad in her seat. I swear pee was coming out of her eyeballs at that point.”

“So, he drags her out by the arm and stomps around this ruin. There aren’t any cars for miles. Mom is screaming from the window to watch out for snakes and to make sure she doesn’t desecrate any of the stones.”

My face is hot to the touch and I know