As the last living descendant of her holy bloodline, Rune was under a lot of pressure. To live up to her family's legacy. To fulfill her duties as the heir. To produce more heirs. To marry for a political alliance, to secure stability for an empire on the verge of collapse. She was wanted more for her ability to save the bloodline than her political acumen, or her skill with a sword, or her leadership.
Rune had always hated the expectations, but she'd never let herself complain. Never let her true feelings show. Acting out in her position affected far more than her; her every move was watched, scrutinized, picked apart. Anything she did could cause a scandal, could cost lives. So she'd hidden her discontent behind a mask of polite indifference.
It was only here, in this cottage, that she could truly be herself. Here, she could shed the mask, be more than her genes and bloodline. More than a piece to be moved in a game of chess.
Her knight was her one confidant. The only person she could truly open up to, who knew all her secrets, all her doubts, all her insecurities. Rune's other half, her missing piece, the love of her life. They'd been together from childhood, despite their different stations. Publicly, they could only be emperor and servant, but here, they could be themselves.
"I love you," she whispered, trembling fingers running down her knight's cheek as they lay together in the aftermath of their passion. "I know I cannot give you the future you deserve. I know this is unfair to ask, but—" She drew in a shaky breath, a hesitant, fragile smile on her face. "Stay with me. By my side. Always."
Rune's eyes filled with tears at the selfishness of her request. To everyone else, she was a man, not the woman she'd always known herself to be. She was engaged to a duchess, expected to be an emperor and husband, to sire heirs, expected to save her bloodline and their country. Rune would never be free of her fate, and now she was asking the love of her life to share in it. "You do not have to say yes. I only..."