The Emporer

LIORA'S POV 

The sight great auditorium is bewitching to look at, a gathering of royals in all their glory. I wish I wore the dress I had painstakingly made over months but I was preserving it for when I'll officially meet with my mate, now among these beautiful peacocks, I feel like a clumsy ostrich. Everyone has clearly put immense effort into their appearance for today.

We are in the same hall as yesterday, but now it has been transformed into a little heaven. Flowers and soft carpets line the path leading to the stage where the urn rests on its raised altar. All eyes are fixed intently there.

Seating was assigned by status. The most famed royals from the big states Elon, Callum, Heather, Violette, Piper, Lindsay grace the front rows, while the close families of well-known royals took the front center. As for us, we sit further center near the back.

A wide aisle separates our section from the exalted place reserved for the mighty Emperor. Yes, today I'll be lucky to see what an Emperor looks like for the first time. Bless my eyes.

The anticipation of seeing him has got everyone more anxious than finding their own mate. I have been listening to everyone around me chat about what he’s like, for the last thirty minutes, they seem to forget that he'll be mated to only one woman in this entire hall.

Suddenly a trumpet sounds from outside, signalling the arrival of the most awaited person.

Everyone in the hall including royal men stands in an attempt to catch a glimpse of the man through the large windows. Is it so hard to wait for him to walk inside the hall. It's not like anyone is being awarded for seeing him first.

"Here comes my love!" Hilda exclaims. She takes off her shoes and climbs on her seat. Now she stands taller than anyone in the hall.

"Make sure you don't fall on me." I say but she is too focused in searching for him that she doesn't hear me. What if she tumbles and falls on my head! I may be pathetic but I am not dying before finding my mate.

"Hilda! You're acting too desperate for anyone's liking!" I yell at her. That gets her attention.

"I want him to notice me!" She yells back. 

"There are more dignifying ways of earning his attention." I say. 

Hilda steps back down, she puts on her shoes. "I can only see his guards out through the window." She mutters sounding disappointed.

Several seconds pass before the doors at the front head of the hall bursts open. A procession of guard stride in, their armor glinting in light. 

And then, my... my, the man who follows. Now beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, but I had never been so instantly attracted to anyone before in my life. 

The Emperor…he is tall...taller than anyone else in the hall, with broad shoulders that fill the deep black cloak draped over him. Beneath the cloak, a shimmering white silk shirt hugs his lean, perfectly toned body Damn if I can't clearly trace the shape of his well toned body through that thin shirt! Why didn't someone warn me about him being so impossible-not-to-drool-at kind of gorgeous?! I swear, the silk itself looks honored to touch him. 

His short hair is thick, dark, and neatly styled, not a strand out of place, and my eyes shamelessly follow the line of his unnaturally beautiful face down to the sharp curve of his neck and the hint of his Adam’s apple beneath the collar of his shirt. 

From the tip of his polished boots to the thin golden crown resting atop his head, he is the very image of power, gloriousness and a relentless thirst trap.

The way he moves, with such poise and grace, is mesmerizing. Someone bring me a glass of water, no, better bring me a bucket...I might just dehydrate from drooling. And don’t forget the popcorn, because I’m going to be watching this man all day.

He knows he’s good-looking, and makes no apologies for it. Goddess, where I wished for a prince, erase that, my wish is for this fine man. 

“Mother of stars,” a girl behind me gasps, which somehow snaps the spell long enough for me to realize every other woman in the hall is swooning over him, just like me. Whoever this man’s mate will be, she’d better know how to fight. She is not getting all that without a war.

Girls follow Hilda's suit and most stand up on some of the chairs, screaming all kinds of praise words. But the man's face remains stolid, his eyes just observes them.

Seriously? He isn't going to acknowledge this show of love even with a polite smile?

I presume he doesn't care the slightest bit about their childish signs of love and adoration. 

He is so close to us when Hilda shrieks, "You look toothsome, my love!!" 

I hastily stand and cover her mouth. 

"Are you seeking to be dragged out of here by his guards?" I ask. She brushes my hand off.

"Do think he is going to notice me if I sit?!" She asks sounding irritated.

"He'll only notice you if you turn out to be his mate." I remind her, though every nerve in my body aches with want, foolish, impossible want because not even our goddess would convince such a man to look my way twice.

The Emperor, with all his unearthly beauty, settles into his throne-like seat and his guards stand by either side of him, his eyes finding the stange ahead more interesting than the women still screaming for his attention. 

"Candidates, please let try to be graceful and take our seats." Lady Eleanor's voice try to draw everyone attention to the front, her fingers tapping the sides of the podium impatiently. She waits until everyone tires of screaming and jumping before continuing.

"Today the goddess herself will choose the one who shall stand beside every one of you. I'll confess that, there are those who will not find their mate today, but they should not despair. Our goddess is not cruel.There will be a next time. And for those whose hearts will bear rejection from their choosen mate, know, you are not a failure. They just don't know your worth." 

I immediately say a short prayer to goddess Isolde, begging she spare me such heartbreak today. He doesn’t have to be as perfect as the Emperor himself, but a little bit of that godlike grace? I wouldn’t complain.

Then Lady Eleanor gestures with a respectful bow toward the Emperor. “We shall now begin, but first, it is the Emperor’s privilege to start this lottery, as tradition dictates. Your Majesty, if you please.”

The auditorium falls into a hush so deep it feels like a tomb. The Emperor rises, a living god, and walks forward with that same poised, effortless grace that stopped my breath when he first appeared. 

At the threshold, I finally get an unobstructed view of him that sends my stomach fluttering wildly. The man seems five times more dazzling than his statues. Why did any other princes even bother showing up? Tonight, my eyes and I suspect every woman’s here are fixed on only one man. 

A servant carrying a whitestone on a small silver tray steps forward. The Emporer reaches out and picks it up.

Time seems to slow as he lifts the stone and casts it into the waiting vessel. The soft clatter as it lands echoes through the hall.

He returns to his seat and Lady Eleanor steps forward once more, "Candidates, you will now form a line and cast your stones, one by one, into the—”

Before she can finish, a chaotic rush explodes as everyone lunges for the line like it’s a lifeline. Heather shoves a skinny girl aside, claiming the first spot on the line. Violette forces her way to second place, wonder how her skinny body manages to do that! Hilda practically drags me by the hand as she fights to get ahead of everyone infront of us. Thank God, her thick body doesn't allow her to be fast or we would end up right behind Heather and Violette. Everyone is desperate to cast their white stones immediately after the Emperor’s. But who knows it might work.

I wrote the initials on mine with Hilda's feather, which she claimed her mother took to the goddess temple for blessings.

Hilda even added an initial of the Emporer's last name on to her whitestone to stake her claim on him.