Renouncing the Emperor's Heart

Provoke (Part III)

Watching his pride shatter would have tasted sweet enough to assuage her anger, but the only sign of her husband's displeasure was his warning grip at her waist. He pulled her harder against his side and seized her hand from the Grand Duke's hold.

Inspecting her wrapped palm, he ran a finger across the knotted cloth. "You only like it when I touch you," he sneered with a knowing glint in his eyes.

She clenched her jaw. It may have been the truth just a few months ago, but now, she couldn't bear to feel his skin against her own. "After everything, do you honestly think that's still true?" she murmured under her breath, conscious of the Grand Duke's gaze piercing the side of her face.

Richard's eyes narrowed. Abruptly untying the twist of the Duke's handkerchief over her injured hand, he blindly flung the fabric away. Keeping his gaze on the inflamed gash, he ignored her remark and spoke to the Grand Duke. "You've overstayed your welcome, Amon."

Jovine tried escaping his grasp, but Richard tightened his hold and savagely dug through the inner pockets of his suit. Whisking out a dark, silk cloth, he wrapped her palm with it. When the Grand Duke continued to stand there, unmoving and unresponsive, Richard snapped his head to the side with a dirty look on his face. "You aren't expecting us to waste our time giving you an unnecessary send-off, are you?"

Appalled by his brash actions in front of their company, Jovine subdued her revulsion and turned away from her vexed husband and towards the man who had only been civil in her presence. "I apologize —"

"Don't," Richard snapped.

Jovine continued, ignoring his words and finally freeing her wrist from his grasp. She disregarded the feel of his hand roughly settling at her waist again. "I apologize for the intrusion, Grand Duke Amon. Are you leaving the Capital?"

Amon looked back at her, his eyes no longer soft but hard and unyielding. Just as his lips parted to answer, Richard's voice cut through. "Amon will be leaving for Mallory. I would say it's a shame he won't be coming back but —"

"No," Amon interjected.

Richard stiffened. "What did you say?"

"The matter we discussed before...I've decided my answer is no."

Unaware of what he meant, Jovine frowned as she looked between the tense exchange.

A menacing calm settled over her husband. "Be very careful what you say next."

Amon turned his gaze back towards Jovine, a daring smile splitting across his face. "You see, I've found a reason to stay a while longer."

Unwillingly, her pulse jumped. The way he was looking at her sent chills down her spine. Richard's fingers trickled down to her hips possessively. "Leave," he uttered to the Duke, his tone calm but scathing.

Amon stepped closer, bowing low and taking her uninjured hand to place his warm, smiling lips against it. He murmured his farewell into her skin. "I will see you again, my Empress."

Jovine held back from snatching her hand away, the promise in his words strangely making her feel uncomfortable. Her husband was the last person who deserved her loyalty, but habits were hard to break. With Richard's body plastered to her side, she found herself needing the reminder that the man beside her wasn't the one she fell in love with. He was an unfaithful scoundrel who deserved every ounce of hatred she had been holding back for too long.

Unable to respond, Jovine simply nodded. With a curt bow towards the Emperor, Grand Duke Amon vel Feyras departed, casually stalking through the Gardens. She kept her eyes on his retreating back when a humorless laugh sounded at her side.

"You're going to pathetic lengths to get my attention," Richard scoffed.

Jovine's body turned rigid. "Take your hands off of me," she quietly gritted out.

Instead of heeding her request, her husband swerved her around until their chests pressed together. Leaning down, he observed her with a clinical stare. "You're injuring yourself, causing scenes in public, and consorting with Amon vel Feyras of all people. You wanted to catch my eye and now you have. People are whispering, and you know how much I hate bothersome things like this wasting my time. What do you need for all this foolishness to stop? A night in my bed?"

She internally flinched at his belittling insinuation. The way he spoke to her wasn't a husband speaking to his wife. He was treating her as if she were the tiresome mistress begging for a spare second of his time. He was as calculating and cruel as ever. She shouldn't have expected anything less. Instead of lashing out as she so wanted to, Jovine leered at him with hollow eyes. "If I need a good frolic between the sheets, rest assured I won't go looking for you."

A look of genuine, unpleasant surprise flashed through his stormy eyes. Although his disgruntled expression was a sight she would have reveled in, Jovine wanted nothing more than to get away from his heated body. Harshly pushing against his chest, she wrenched herself out of his embrace. Dusting herself roughly with her hands as if she could wipe his fingerprints off with a flick of her wrist, she briskly walked past him.

Richard grabbed her elbow, jerking her back. "What has gotten into you?"

His indignant face and baffled voice caused her to scoff. "Does it bother you, Your Majesty? Envisioning me with another man?"

His grip hardened. "I know you, Jovine. You only see me. You have always only looked at me. Don't make me laugh with your unfounded innuendos."

She was the one who could laugh right then. How worthless did he think she was? "Why would I be looking at you? You have Emilia. It's only fair I should have my own lover, is it not?" She had never considered having another man in her bed, but if it could wound her husband's pride, she would spout just about anything.

"Lover?" he spat. "I am your husband."

"In name only." She leaned in, whispering her next words. "Nothing in our marriage is real. Wasn't it you who admitted it?"

Rage flared across his face, but he seemed to be at a loss for words. Ripping herself away from his hold for the last time, she looked at him blankly. "I have people waiting for me."

As Empress Jovine turned her back and walked away from her husband, she didn't see the hurt flicker across his face. Richard de Tristaine stumbled back, seizing his head from a stubborn migraine pounding at his temples. He squeezed his eyes shut from the blunt pain and when he opened them again, his bearings calmed and pride overcame the confusion. When Jovine's form was no longer visible, he tilted his head and scoffed. A twinge of something unpleasant twisted in his hollow chest, but he ignored it. Instead, the Emperor turned away, telling himself he would not be affected and allowing the ghost of his memories blow away with the wind as he stepped through the grounds that were forever tainted with the echoes of his fading wife.