Empire Fall

Chapter Twenty

UNEDITED

Hestia was in love. From the very moment he had stared down her father, her heart knew it. The emperor Sasuke, a walking enigma of strength and beauty, the stories of whom said he was an unforgiving ruler had taken the only possession she had that was truly hers and not an inheritance from her father, the king.

And now she stood by the throne he commanded as his wife-to-be.

The lines of his face were hard and unyielding, making her wonder how it would look if he smiled. Or if his stony eyes had ever softened. Father was upset earlier, on learning that the emperor intended to see the war through right before the wedding, postponing the celebration, but Hestia couldn't care. Besides, she had suspicions it would make no difference to him if she did.

The emperor's very countenance was an impenetrable armor. No one could tell what went on behind it. Irrespective of king Remus' worries, she calmly accepted the emperor's decision, however choosing to follow him in this battle. He'd said nothing to oppose it, despite Father's eyes practically begging him to refuse.

"If that's what you wish," he had shrugged.

It was the eve of departure. He was swaying. It was something she thought him utterly incapable of, yet as the drums and the harps created their rhythm, he seemed to have lost himself in it. Long, dark hair picked up as his head softly whipped about; the flames danced upon the torch he swung around like a sword, his eyes never even blinking when he stared into them, as if he intended to prove he could burn brighter.

His eyes were out of focus like a man intoxicated, which was befuddling for she hadn't seen him take so much as a single sip of alcohol throughout the night, unlike the rest of the soldiers. And she was trapped in them like a moth within a raging fire.

Hestia's true shock came the next morning, when at dawn he demanded her presence and upon her arrival, announced that the wedding would happen right away.

"I uphold my word," was all he pointedly said before speaking the vows in the flattest tone she had ever heard and just like that, she was his wife. She never even got the chance to demand of her Father if he had any role in this nor if any of this held any meaning at all to the emperor himself, whose naked name was still forbidden on her lips.

He was a reckless force indeed and she got the distinct feeling of having been sucked into a tornado. One that rose from the thunderstorm that was emperor Sasuke Uchiha.

*

She had never imagined her first night would be spent in a tent all by herself, when she was on the way to battle alongside her husband in a war of which she had no knowledge. The emperor was so fixated on this particular war that he even married her to carry on uninterrupted (Hestia also never imagined that a total of only six people would be attending her wedding, including the bride and groom themselves.)

Regardless of his reasons, she told herself, she'd stand by him as long as she wasn't holding him back. Hestia had decided she would be a foot soldier merely guarding the emperor if that was what position he gave her. Her mind was set that she would not leave his side, even if she had to become a pawn or a shield for him. Such was his effect on her.

Besides, if anything she'd studied about the man was true, he wouldn't appreciate a weak woman who couldn't take care of herself. And she was determined to make him see her.

They traveled for five days during which not once did he enter their tent to consummate the marriage. Hestia couldn't say she was not disappointed, but it isn't as if he hadn't warned her about the plaintiveness of being his wife. She took it with a sigh, though on the second day of travel, she had approached him and apologized for her Father's interference.