The Peccata was present during the wedding. They were all dressed in attire customary in the Huo Empire, and they all were practically brimming with happiness, a glow on each of their faces. Fang was laughing and smiling more than I had ever seen of him, his stoic expression morphed into a cheerful one. Bohai genuinely looked happy, beaming from ear to ear and drinking wine with the other guests.

I was seated at the front of the main hall, clad in a heavily adorned dress that was so beautiful that I had almost cried when I wore it. I hadn't even thought that I would get married a few months ago and here I was, dressed so prettily and actually having a chance at marriage.

My hair was pulled and styled, silver jewelry pinned and woven through it. My face was dusted with cosmetics. Even I couldn't deny that I was beautiful today—more beautiful than I thought I would look.

Meilin was sitting next to me and throughout the entire reception, wore a somewhat bored expression, something dark glimmering in his eyes. He had smiled here and there, laughing at something when appropriate, but there was something lingering in his gaze that I had never seen before.

He was looking even more handsome than I had thought was possible for him. His hair was nicely done like always, he was dressed crisply and in fancy attire.

I hadn't spoken a word to him throughout the entire ceremony. We had done the various rituals—holding hands and sharing a cup of water, which symbolizing our life together since water was eternal, and agreeing to the Vows of the Spirits, to cherish and remember our bloodlines and to promise the continuation of life—but I hadn't spoken out of obligation. Even now as I sat next to him, watching as various people drank and ate, I couldn't help but feel an anxious knot in the pit of my stomach.

"You're not hungry?" Meilin asked as he pushed a piece of chicken on his plate. His eyes were on me and it was the first time he had spoken to me during the wedding.

"Not really," I murmured.

"You'll need your strength for tonight." The corner of his mouth lifted in a half-tilt of a smirk, mischief and a knowing look glowing within his dark eyes.

I hesitantly reached forward for the glass of water set beside the food lain out for us. Taking slow sips, my heart couldn't calm down. Staring at his eyes for too long made me feel like I would burst.

I was married to the emperor.

I was married to Drakkon Meilin.

That thought was both exciting and thrilling. I was slightly scared of what the future had for us, but I was determined to survive through and handle him.

After all, I was Yin Daiyu, the woman married to the Dragon.

"Weddings have always been boring to me," he mused as he leaned back against the giant, cushioned seat we were both on. He tipped back his glass and gulped down the contents of it. "It should be fun, I suppose, but I've never liked huge crowds. Imagine my surprise when I realized leading an army meant big crowds." His dry humor would've made me smile if I wasn't so tense. He was watching the people all around, his gaze softening when he saw Nikator and Remus dancing. "I suppose seeing them having fun is good enough compensation."

I nibbled onto a fruit that was near me. It was sweet but my insides were still as tight as ever, my shoulders stiff and my mind a whir of thoughts.

"Why are you so silent today?" he asked, leaning forward to graze a finger against my cheek before withdrawing his hand. "You're more quiet than usual."

I swallowed. "I'm nervous, that's all."

"Of what comes after this?"

Heat radiated off of me.

He let out a roar of a laugh, amusement flashing in those ebony colored eyes. They were unreadable as always, which made me wonder how Mother was able to read him to easily. "You're sweeter like this, little rabbit. I wish I could just take you away now."

"Have you been ignoring me throughout the week?" I asked him abruptly, completely changing the embarrassing subject.

He blinked back in surprise before a sullen expression overtook his features. "Not really. I've been busy making sure the palace is secure."

"Oh . . . " Relief pooled in my chest and I relaxed a bit, my shoulder practically melting with the loosening of the tension.

"Did you think I was ignoring you?"

"Yes," I answered honestly.

"I'm a busy man," he said with a shrug.

"I felt like you didn't have time for me."

"I've had a lot on my mind."

"Have you ever thought of marriage before?" I asked him out of curiosity.

He shook his head. "Not really. I had no real desire to marry."

"What made you decide to marry?"

"Bohai and Fang were worried that I would never find someone," he replied with a laugh. His gaze swept throughout the hall before it landed on me. "They're more concerned about future heirs and my 'happiness' than I am. After they pestered me long enough, I allowed them to look for women. I don't like women that are too young, though, so that's why the age limit was set." He sighed and grabbed a piece of a mango, popping it in his mouth. "And, well, I honestly had no intention of actually finding a suitable bride until you came along."

"Why me?" I breathed. There were so many women in the Huo empire and he had chosen me.

He smiled hesitantly, his gaze darkening. "I told you before, didn't I? You have an innocence that burns a twisted person like me."

I was sure he meant it as a good thing, but when I took a look at Remus, Nikator, Thera, Vita, Minos and Atreus, I felt sick of the innocence in me. I was older than them and yet I still had my innocence intact, while they were tainted with bloodshed and horror at such a young age. So much of their youthful innocence was snatched from them and yet I was still considered innocent.

Innocent and naïve.

I couldn't help but wonder if Meilin had lost his innocence as a child, or if it was later on in his life.

I voiced my thoughts out loud. "Your Majesty, when did you lose you innocence?"

"Eighteen," he answered automatically. "Though, she didn't really matter."

I blushed at his answer. I hadn't meant it that way, but I suppose he had taken it that way. "N-No, I mean, your innocence towards the world."

His gaze hardened and he smiled mirthlessly, taking a sip of water. "My innocence towards the world, huh? Hmm, I suppose I was nine when I realized this world is cruel; fourteen when I realized this world is hell."

I must've shown a horrified or sad expression on his face because he uncharacteristically pressed a hand against mine.

"I'm not broken," he said, removing his hand and instead focusing on the food laid out before him. His eyes skipped over to where Fang and Jia were at, both of them holding Kang's hands while talking into each other's ears. He turned back to me. "Losing innocence isn't something to pity me for. Everyone goes through it, which is why I'm so surprised you still have your innocence intact."

I was starting to understand that I was just a naïve girl and the reason I was so terrified of Meilin stemmed from my innocent naivety. I hadn't seen hell like he had—although I didn't know what he had gone through—so who was I to judge him?

"The reception is coming close to an end," Meilin murmured with a half concealed grin. After a few moments, Meilin rose from his seat and held his hand out for me. I reached for his hand and grabbed it, hauling myself up as gracefully as possible, my heart racing at what was to come next.

In a flurry, Meilin and I were walking in the middle of the room, people parting ways and bowing down deeply. I caught an excited Yat-sen waving at me and I couldn't help but smile at him, before shifting my gaze to the Peccata, whom were all kneeling down and had their right hands on their hearts—an odd type of bow that wasn't normal in the Huo Empire. Thera winked when I caught her eye and I couldn't help but blush at her, averting my gaze.

"That wasn't too hard, hmm?" Meilin said as we walked down the hallway, soldiers lined along the hallway, shoulder to shoulder. Spears and javelins were in their hands and they were staring directly ahead of themselves, though I caught a few sparing glances at the two of us as we marched down the long hallway. "How's your first taste of being empress?" he continued as we walked along the soldiers before reaching the second floor, where there was practically no one.

All the soldiers were lined up for the buffet that started once the emperor left with his wife. It was now that the commoners and soldiers were allowed inside to feast with the noblemen and high ranking officials.

"It's . . . different," I whispered, still awed by how synchronized all the bowing down had seemed. "I'm not used to people bowing down to me."

"I'm not used to it either and I've been the emperor for four years," he said with a shrug. "Almost five years."

"You're not used to it?"

"Not really." He flashed me a rare, wild grin, his teeth gleaming as the moonlight from one of the hallway windows glowed on him. "But that doesn't mean I don't like it."

"You like that people bow down to you?"

"I don't know what I feel about it, but I don't dislike it." He paused when we reached my bedroom. He pushed the door open and I was surprised with how tidy the room was. It had been a mess before I had left and now it was spotless. I noticed that there was a soft gossamer gown lying on the center of the bed, meant for me to wear.

I walked into my room and stopped at the bed, picking up the dress and feeling the shimmery fabric, my face heating up at the nudity that would be displayed if I wore it.

"Your room is actually quite small," Meilin said as he looked around himself. He was leaning back against the doorframe when he spoke. Pushing himself away from it, he locked the door behind him and strolled in casually. "It's a cozy kind of room." He paused when he reached the bed, one look at the dress sending him laughing crudely. "I would rather you be naked than pretend to be clothed."

I dropped the dress on the bed. "I didn't choose this dress," I mumbled.

"Hmm, it's too sheer for my liking," he said as he cracked his knuckles. He took in my taut posture, the way I was frozen solid on the spot, and smiled in amusement. "You can start by going to your dresser and removing all that jewelry. Then you can wash your face."

Embarrassed, I listened to him and walked over to my dresser, slowly removing the pins and jewels in my hair. Meilin was sitting on the edge of the bed, watching me with predatory eyes and an amused smirk twisting his lips.

When I had washed my face and had my hair hanging down my back, I was ready for him.

"You look beautiful," he told me as I stopped a few feet away from him.

"Thank you," I murmured.

"You've truly never been with a man?" he asked me. He made no move to remove my clothing, nor his. He was watching me with those black eyes of his, the reflection within them blank since I couldn't read what he was thinking.

"Truly, I've never been with a man."

"Even if you had, that would've been fine," he said as he rose from the bed. He stalked over to me and stopped in front of me, placing a hand on the back of my neck. "You're lovely, Daiyu."

My chest rose and I stared up into his eyes, my heart palpitating to a foreign rhythm at the closeness of our faces.

"I want you to say my name." He rested a finger on my cheek and dragged it over my ear, tucking back a few loose strands of hair before placing a thumb on my lower lip. "Not 'Your Majesty'. Call me by my name."

"M-Meilin," I whispered.

He brought his lips down to meet mine. My lips caught with his and I gasped at the desperation of the kiss, the intimacy and fire coursing through my veins surprising me as I brought my arms around him. His lips moved against mine slowly, and ever so slightly, he parted my lips open and deepened the kiss, both his hands resting lightly against my hips.

When we both pulled back a breadth to breathe, his darkened gaze melted my chest and reduced me to a shy and very star-struck woman. When we were close like this, with his touch so gentle, I couldn't help but admire his beauty.

Desire pooled in my chest as I gazed at him.

"Daiyu, you're truly beautiful," he said to me as he hooked a finger on one of the ties around my dress. He tugged at it, letting the sash come loose and dropping it to the ground, the first layer of my dress hanging off of my shoulders. He pushed it off and then slowly untangled the rest of my dress until I was standing in a thin robe that was so flimsy that it was similar to the gossamer gown he had mocked.

He paused at undressing me an instead started easing off his own clothes, tossing them on the ground haphazardly. He reached forward and gently grabbed my chin, tilting my head up to stare him in the eyes.

"Are you scared of me?"

"No."

"I'll be sweet to you tonight," he whispered before crashing his lips down against mine, igniting a passion within me that I had thought had died when Heng had passed away.

The night that transpired was unexpectedly fervent and hot, on more than one occasional Meilin somehow causing me to cry out and hold onto him tightly, wanting him more as a husband than a companion. It had hurt in the beginning, but he was gentle and sweet, and his kisses were hot, trailing down across my body and easing me. He hadn't spoken much, but the intensity of his eyes told me how invested he was in my reaction, and how I was pleasing him.

When we both were spent, he laid next to me, staring up at the ceiling calmly. I was shivering beneath the thin sheets, but I was reluctant to hold onto him. Although my face was heated with emotion and the surprising passion that had taken over me and my body, there was something in my heart that was aching at the sight of him and his body.

"Meilin," I whispered, touching his bare shoulder.

"What?" he said, tilting his head to the side to catch sight of me. The moonlight was shining down on me and I breathed in heavily as I stared into his shadowed face.

"Your body," I whispered ever so softly. "I never realized it was so scarred."

On the back of his left calf, he had a nasty red scarring from an old burn. His back had a few thick scars, and he had faint scarring throughout the rest of his body, resulting from combat.

I sat upright, letting the sheets slip off my bare body as I rested a hand against his heart. After the intimacy we had shared, I had grown somewhat bold around him. I trailed a finger to the jagged cut near his collar bone. "This one, you told me your brother stabbed you, right?"

He caught my hand in his, holding it in place. "Yes."

"And the two big scars on your back?"

"I was lashed."

I inhaled sharply. "Doesn't that hurt?"

"Of course, my skin split open and I bled for a long time. It's not pretty to be lashed with such severity that you cannot move and can only feel your blood run down your raw back." His expression darkened and he let go of my hand. "That was a long time ago, though."

"A-And . . . this?" I pushed the sheets off of him and rested by hand on his hip, where there was a large tattoo of a snake with a circle near it. It was a beautiful marking, simple and clear, and I had seen it many times throughout the empire before Meilin had taken the throne. The previous royal family's sigil, the snake and the moon—the exact crest that was marked on the MuRong family.

He was silent and he watched me with unfathomable eyes.

"Who are you, Meilin?"

He brought a hand to the side of my face, cupping it gently. "Do you really want to know? I think you already know the answer."

"B-But only the royal family is marked with the sigil," I whispered. "You overthrew the MuRong family. You killed emperor Yan. Yan was a MuRong."

He nodded.

"He had the mark of the MuRong family, the snake and the moon. Why . . . Why do you have the same mark?"

He was silent.

"You said 'Drakkon' was a name you picked up from Sanguis, and that you had no family name." I swallowed and licked my lips. "What's your real name, Meilin?"

"Drakkon Meilin," he said simply. "But my birth name is MuRong Meilin."

"MuRong . . . "

"Emperor Yan was my older brother," Meilin said softly.

I held his hand in my two hands, clasping it together on my lap as I stared at him. His brother was the previous emperor, meaning that Yat-sen truly was his nephew. Not only that, but he had killed some of his nephews and had his nieces imprisoned.

"What happened between you and Yan?"

"It's a long and depressing story," he said with a sigh. He pulled me down on the bed until I was lying down next to him instead of sitting upright. He placed a hand on my hip as he stared at me, both of us turned towards each other. "We have different mothers and he hated me from the instant I was born. I'd rather not talk about everything that happened in my childhood. Maybe . . . later, I will tell you everything about my past."