Tara looked at him, trying to meet his eyes. He seemed friendly again, looked at her with something like honest concern in his eyes. But even in her drugged and muddled state of mind she couldn’t forget the girl.
“What if I don’t want to drink it?”
Tiberius seemed disappointed. “Don’t make me do something I will regret later on, my little bird. I can’t go around damaging my future breeding stock, you know.”

Tara gave him a silent stare, and Tiberius looked almost cheerfully back.
“I hope you understand what this means”, he finally said, his face earnest again and his voice bar of humour. “Every time you refuse, I will send Aquila for a slave girl. Will you really take that upon your conscience?”
If it hadn’t been for the unpleasant memory Tara would have liked to believe he was bluffing, but as it was, she took the cup and drained it. She hated him with a vengeance, and she hated herself as much, if not more, for her weakness and her stupidity.

“Very well done, my little bird.” Tiberius seemed pleased. “And now, let us celebrate our union, like my men are presently doing, albeit... a little more, civilized.”
“I have nothing to celebrate”, Tara whispered.
“What?” Tiberius dropped his red mantle and chuckled again. “You are married to the most powerful man east of the Pacific Ocean and have nothing to celebrate?”
“Can you stop this, please?” With the antidote doing its work, Tara’s mind and senses began to work normally again. “Stop treating me like something I ain’t!”

Tiberius spun around, a small, and dangerous smile on his face.
“Ah, a little bit of spirit.”
Tara swallowed. “Can I just go back into my prison?”
“No.” Tiberius unbuckled his belt. “Don’t be silly. You are my wife now, what would you do in a prison? You will sleep here until we set out for New Vegas. At my side.”
“No.” Tara felt all blood drain from her face, and a cold knot began to form in her stomach. “No, don’t touch me!”

“It’s going to be hard celebrating our union without touching you, my little bird”, Tiberius replied, the smile on his face becoming more prominent, and more unpleasant as he shed his tunic. “Don’t you think?”
Tara took a few steps back and bumped into the bed. “No. Don’t touch me...”

But at that moment Tiberius was at her side and, with a strength Tara hadn’t expected, took her garment at the collar and tore it apart. The shreds fell down, hanging at her hips, baring her naked upper body to him and a wave of cold revulsion swept over her. But before she could act, however, Tiberius had bodily thrown her onto the bed.

Tara panicked. She screamed and thrashed, kicked and flailed, but Tiberius was a strong man, a warrior, and she was so weakened by being dragged through the desert and kept as a prisoner, all with hardly any food and water, that she didn’t stand a chance. His fist connected with her temple, and in the few seconds of pain and disorientation, he had undone her belt and torn the rest of her robes away.

Tara herd her own voice as if coming from far away, screaming no over and over again but Tiberius had her pinned down, and his hands were all over her body. And to her utter despair she heard him howl in delight when he finally succeeded in sinking his finger into her.
“A virgin”, he crooned”, brushing her cheek with his. “A virgin. I would never have believed it had anyone told me that. What a prize you are, my little bird.”

“Please!” Tara’s voice was already hoarse, and her futile attempts at escaping from under Tiberius body had depleted her feeble, remaining strength. “Please don’t take my virginity! Please, it’s promised to someone else, please...”
Tiberius chuckled into her ear as he nudged her legs apart with one knee. “No.” He kissed her jaw. “He should have claimed it while he had the chance. Now it’s mine.”