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

“I’m pregnant, a boy,” I whisper.

His trembling body tenses, his eyes immediately find mine and he blinks. “Drucilla?” he asks on an exhale.

Nodding, tears fall from my eyes. “It’s true.”

“The gods have blessed us again, they continue to bless us.”

“Because we were dutiful and fulfilled their prophecy, because we work alongside our sisters and brothers, because we love.”

Tiberius dips his chin closer to my face, his lips touch mine. “Yes, melculum, we do love, don’t we?”

“So much love.”

He slides out of me and I watch in amazement as he drops to his knees and places his lips against my lower belly. “So much love that it pours out of us and creates life, an abundance of life. I hope it is twins again,” he rasps.

Julia and Mila were twins, babies that I didn’t know if we would all three survive entering the world. But we did and they thrive. I don’t know why Tiberius would want to go through that again, I think he was a bigger emotional mess than I was.

“How about just a healthy, happy mom and baby?” I ask.

He snorts. “The gods would not take you from me, not my fated,” he murmurs, leaning over and touching my belly with his lips.

Lifting my hand, I run my fingers through his hair. “I suppose not, but let’s not tempt fate, yes?”

His mouth turns up into a grin and he nips my flesh with his teeth before he stands to his feet, then lies down next to me, rolling to his side to face me.

“I suppose you’re right. We mustn’t tempt fate. But I know that this will probably be our last, I would like as many as the gods bestow on us.”

Reaching out, I trace his lips with my index finger. “I love you, Tiberius.”

He leans forward, his lips touching mine. “I love you more than I could have ever imagined possible, Drucilla. The gods blessed me beyond measure when they brought you to me.”

Bride of the Scholar

A Prophecy of Sisters Short Story

Prologue

MARCELLUS

I watch her from across the room. A famulus. She should not make me feel anything. She is meant to service, use, and serve me. My body should not ache for her, and yet, that is exactly what it does.

There is a celebration tonight and I decide that I will live out my desires and fantasies with her then, therefore eradicating her from my system so that I can move on and go in search of a proper mulier. I have been putting that off, not wishing to be tied down to one person, but it is time.

Tiberius leans in to speak to his new mulier and I watch them. They are happy, far too happy. I can’t help the twinge of jealousy I feel when I look at them. They are not perfect and yet they are perfectly content in every way. They are completely mad for one another. I want that.

Cassia sits down beside me and clears her throat. Turning my head, I look down at her arching a brow. “May I be of some assistance?” I ask when she doesn’t say anything immediately.

“It is obvious that you have an attraction to Drucilla’s famulus. You know as the second son, you can choose any mulier you wish, yes?”

“Is there a reason you’re telling me this?”

Cassia rolls her eyes to the ceiling then looks directly at me. “You could choose her,” she says. “Do not deny it is the famulus you want.”

I smirk, shifting my gaze from her to Laurentia, then back to Cassia. “Do you think that I would not have her if I wanted her? You act as though I could not have her no matter what the circumstance.”

Cassia shakes her head, then slowly rises to her feet. She bends over, keeping her voice low. “Marcellus, if you do not think that our softhearted empress is going to free her famulus, then you are not as smart as you claim. That woman will be free before you can bed her. Then she will have the choice to tell you no and you will have never had her.”

I don’t get the opportunity to respond. She straightens and walks away before I can say a word. I watch her, then shift my gaze back toward the famulus. Her gaze connects to mine, but she quickly breaks the contact by dipping her chin to look at the floor.

Cassia could be right. Our empress is softhearted. I have heard her object more than once to the fact that we have servi. It clearly bothers her, along with the orgia that we have when we celebrate. It seems our empress is conservative when it comes to sexual relations, something that is not part of our culture at all.

Though I have to admit for as conservative as she is, it is nice that she does not seem to attempt to want to change our way of living, it was a worry of mine when she first showed her dislike for our culture.

LAURENTIA

Leaving the room, I am thankful for the reprieve in my bedroom, in my isolation. I prefer to be alone, knowing that nothing is expected of me here the way it is out there. Sitting on the edge of the bed, I lay back and close my eyes as I just breathe.

I hear my door open, and I frown as I open my eyes and sit straight up. I see him. He is standing just inside of my room, the door now closed behind him and his gaze focused on me—on every part of me, seeing all of me.

Pressing my lips together, I try to keep from speaking, knowing that I am not allowed to talk directly to him, not unless he makes a demand for me to speak. My station in life is to serve, and to do so quietly.

“Stand,” he demands and I do.

My entire body is trembling. The frater to the emperor is in my