Renouncing the Emperor's Heart

Bonus Scene: Wedding Night

Richard de Tristaine swirled the bitter wine around his mouth as he glared at the men gathered around his wife.

She looked stunning in a white, lace gown that clung to her curved form. Each movement tempted his eyes to wonder about the flesh hidden underneath. And his ring around her finger made her look that much sweeter. They were officially wed, and as he stood afar, watching all the hot-blooded males salivating after his wife in the Banquet Hall of their celebration, he felt violent.

Richard's father was speaking with an Earl beside him, discussing something he had no ounce of interest in. It was clear the Emperor was trying to draw his attention back to the conversation, but he only watched Jovine. He saw her offering a polite smile to a young Lord who was so obviously enamored with her beauty as she thanked him with her mother and brothers at her side. He contemplated going up to the man to punch the shy smile off his face.

A gentle hand touched his unforgiving grip upon the stem of his glass. Just as he was about to wrench himself away from whoever it was that touched him, his mother's amused voice stopped his impulse. "Keep staring like that and I'm afraid you'll burn a hole through every man in this room."

He took another sip, clenching his jaw when he saw Jovine evading the Lord's touch with a hidden grimace. He knew she didn't like to be touched by strangers. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Mother," he distantly mumbled.

The Empress turned her son's face towards her. "I know it scares you to feel. But take a chance this time. She's good for you."

Of course she was good for him. Jovine was pure and kind and beautiful. But it couldn't change his abhorrence to feel something like...love. He saw the way his parents loved each other and could even admit how much he cared for them himself, but since he was a young child, he held resentment for the vulnerability that came with the feeling. He could never explain why he was wired in such a twisted way, but he knew, without a doubt, that if he fell in love with his own wife, he'd be damned.

When he failed to respond to his mother's remark, she looked towards his bride with a resigned sigh. "If it's so repelling to need her, make her need you as well. Maybe then you'll realize the weight of your emotions."

Jovine fidgeted in the burning heat of her wedding chambers, pulling at a hanging thread on her silk robe. Standing in the middle of a room bathed in firelight, she waited for her husband.

The day had passed by in a blur. She was married to Richard now, and while the wedding and celebration felt faded and distant, the night she had been waiting for — and dreading — awakened her senses until she felt raw and exposed. Her mother and tutors had introduced her to the concept of consummation and what had to take place between a man and his wife on the night of their wedding. Erin had even snuck in a fairly improper book highlighting the acts taken between the sheets. Jovine cupped her flamed cheeks just thinking about the lewd things she had read.

The Crown Prince was a striking man. She had to be blind not to notice the way every lady in the room watched him with lust in their eyes. He was strong and powerful and gorgeous. And the kiss they had shared that one night under the stars...

She could still feel the foreign desire that had overtaken her. It raced through her veins like an addiction she didn't know how to sate. He never kissed her again after that night. The soft brush of their lips upon the altar when they married was the only other time his lips met hers. If that one touch ignited her, what would the night bring?

Her troubling insecurity preyed on her endlessly. Richard had seemed displeased with something throughout the celebration. Even as he asked her for a dance, he looked impatient and cold. Would her husband find her desirable enough to take her? Jovine tightened her hold on the small box in her hands. If he held back his kisses because he didn't want her —