The Emperor's Betrothed Consort

Thirteen

I woke to an empty room. The light was barely trickling in, a soft white that turned yellow as soon as the sun crested the horizon. The massive door that guarded the emperor’s private chambers was open, and there was no sign of a struggle beyond what our lovemaking had done to the bedsheets.

Well. That was something. Somehow, I’d imagined that Tallu would want to wake with me, that he’d want more of what we’d shared. But perhaps I should have studied seduction with Eona? and her private tutors. Maybe the rough, desperate act that Tallu and I had shared wasn’t enough to keep him in bed with me.

I refused to think about the way he’d said he didn’t deserve me, didn’t deserve what we’d shared. Clearly, he was a man who said more when he was desperate to find release than he meant when he was in his full senses.