Beneath the Sand by Katherine L. Bichler

Author:Katherine L. Bichler [Bichler, Katherine L.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2021-11-16T00:00:00+00:00

17

Livia

Livia had not actually known that it was a gladiator she had seen her sister with in the palace gardens the night of the party, but the look on Noemi’s face confirmed it. She was actually happy her sister was not the perfect girl everyone thought her to be and that her betrothal to Felix was not what it seemed. Maybe there was a rebellious side to Noemi she had not known about. But Livia had no plans to rat out her sister. She didn’t want to get caught up in any more secrets since she had enough of her own to keep track of. Plus, she needed her sister to continue to cover for her with their parents.

If any of the other girls noticed the lavish new brooch on Livia’s tunic, they did not hint at it. At first, she had been hesitant to wear it, unsure of what it might lead to if she did. She thought she would be drawing unwanted attention from the emperor, skeptical of what the gift really meant. Her ostentatious nature got the best of her and she decided that it was too beautiful of a piece to let it rot in her trunk. It needed to be shown off regardless the consequences. As luck would have it, the brooch seemed to prove itself to be a simple gift and nothing more. After that night at dinner, the emperor acted like nothing had ever happened. He did not so much as make eye contact with her when present with Antonia or anywhere else. Part of her was relieved she could just hide in the shadows inside the palace again, but the other part wondered what would have happened if the emperor really did fancy her.

The months had been good to Antonia and her unborn child. Her belly was swollen and there was no doubt she was carrying the emperor’s heir. Murmurs of the possibility of a healthy child had even started spreading around the palace. Livia had even stopped despising that she had to care for Antonia, if only just a little bit. Livia mostly felt sorry for Antonia, but she could not imagine being in her position.

The pressure to have a healthy baby was taking its toll on Antonia. Every time the priestess or doctor visited Antonia, she became panicked they would have bad news. She would go into hysterics, crying and shaking so much it would take the girls the rest of the day to calm her down. She wanted less and less to leave her quarters, becoming paranoid someone was trying to hurt her baby. She even went so far as having Martia try all of her food first in case someone was trying to poison her.

Livia could not really blame her for being a handful. The constant attention and pressure to produce an heir was a lot. To lift her spirits, the girls decorated Antonia’s bedroom for Saturnalia. Red poinsettias were placed all around the room to brighten it

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