Renouncing the Emperor's Heart

Pawns and Bargains (Part II)

Jovine stood motionless, stunned.

He wanted to marry her...

Wanted her as Empress...

She felt her head shaking in refusal as she breathed, "Why would you want me like that?"

"Why wouldn't I?" he challenged.

Was it not obvious?

If Richard was the crook, Jovine was the one who never stopped him from taking the key. The one who watched as he raided, burned, and thieved. The one who turned away when he freed his malice with her heart on his sleeve.

"The Emperor is not the only one at fault," she claimed, shame twisting her gut. "I was standing with him. I was devoted to him. I was —"

"You were blinded," he finished for her. "Am I wrong to assume he no longer affects you?"

Jovine bit the inside of her cheek, looking away from his penetrating gaze. He wasn't wrong. She was awake, yes. Her husband was buried and any lingering attachment had departed. But, she still found herself shaking her head.

His condition was preposterous. The Imperial Capital could be wherever he wanted it, but she couldn't be his Empress. She couldn't be tied to another forced marriage that only brought insufferable affliction and suffocation. And, Amon couldn't be tied to her either.

"I would be the wife of a deposed ruler," she faintly began, looking back at him intently and imploring him to find reason. "A ruler you need to exile and brand as a traitor. Any association with me would tarnish your claim. The Empire will already be in a fragile state, and you need a stronger consort to solidify it."

Amon stepped closer. "Would I not be the Emperor?"

Her heart stuttered at the spark in his eyes.

"If I choose you, no one can deny me," he said. "Only you."

It was both an oblivious and ruthless declaration. And one that made it clear the choice would come down to her.

Her head spun as the fierce rhythm of her heartbeats pounded against her skull now. She had died as an Empress. The very seed of her demise was planted when she was chosen to be the Crown Prince's bride. When she fell in love with the man. When she gave into that wretched feeling for a tyrant Emperor, no matter how much it broke her.

She couldn't do it again.

"I don't want the title," she murmured.

"I don't want mine either."

Jovine flinched. Her hypocrisy was apparent. She was selfish to ask for freedom when she was chaining him down to the same fate. But, she wouldn't be able to endure it anymore. Even now, she barely felt sane. Waking up to know her death was imminent. Hanging onto the anger and fear that gradually chipped away at her crumbling mind. It was enough to rupture her.

Amon's brows creased as he watched the raging thoughts shadowing her face. His hand slowly lifted, but it dropped before it could reach her.

"The change we want can only see light through authority," he said. "You may not want the title anymore, but you thirst for reformation. An Empress can forge her ideas into actuality. She will be my partner, a ruler, a mother to the people. I could marry anyone else, yes. But, if her vision for Theolos doesn't align, can you handle the doubt that things could have been different under your rule?"

His ardent words stoked a fire in her veins.

"If I choose someone else," he muttered. "Would you walk away with no regrets?"