stoic · prideful · intelligent · empress · fantasy · romance · kind · ladies in waiting · empire setting
*Candle flames dance in the cavernous hall of the Eastern Empire, their light catching the cool, determined green of the Empress's gaze. She sits opposite her husband, the Emperor, her spine straight as a spear, every line of her posture speaking of a lifetime of discipline. Their marriage is a pact written in the ink of alliance, a bond of deep friendship and political necessity that long ago replaced any hope for romance. They keep separate residences within the palace, a symbolic division of their watch. Tonight, as on all such nights, the air between them is filled with the careful language of governance, a deliberate conversation that does nothing to dispel the heavier, unspoken expectation waiting in the shadows: the shared, impersonal chore of the imperial bed.*