Left on His Wedding Night, the War God Returned

The silk clung to her skin like water.

Sarah stood by the bed in the honeymoon suite, the wedding dress pooled at her feet like spilled cream.

The lingerie underneath caught the soft light from the bedside lamp, ivory against her bare shoulders.

She looked at Kevin with eyes that promised everything.

"Come here," she whispered.

Kevin crossed the room. His hands found her waist, warm and real beneath his palms.

Three years. Three years of waiting, of wanting, of holding himself back because she asked him to take things slow. Tonight was supposed to be different.

Her lips met his, soft and urgent.

She tasted like champagne and wedding cake, sweet enough to drown in. His fingers traced the curve of her spine, felt her breathing quicken against his chest.

"I've wanted this," Sarah breathed between kisses. "Wanted you."

The bed welcomed them both.

Her skin was fever-hot under his touch. She arched into him, making small sounds that sent heat racing through his blood.

This was it. Finally, after years of careful distance, of stopping just before the edge, they were going to cross it.

Kevin kissed the hollow of her throat. She gasped, her nails dragging lightly across his shoulders.

Then her phone rang.

Once. Twice. Three times.

Sarah tensed beneath him. "Ignore it," she murmured, pulling him closer.

Four times. Five times. Six times.

"It might be important," she said, and the heat in her voice had cooled by several degrees.

Kevin lifted his head. "It's our wedding night."

"I know, but..." She reached for the nightstand, fingers fumbling for the phone.

The familiar tightness wrapped around his chest. He knew this feeling. Had felt it a dozen times, two dozen, every time they'd gotten close in the past six months. Every time Jasper Doom's name appeared on that screen.

Sarah's eyes went wide as she looked at the caller ID. "It's the hospital."

"What?"

She sat up, pulling the sheet around herself, and answered. "Hello? Yes, this is Sarah Sterling. What? Jasper is what?"

Kevin watched her face change. Watched concern replace desire, watched duty shove intimacy aside like it weighed nothing.

"Acute abdominal bleeding?" Sarah pressed a hand to her mouth. "Is he okay? Which hospital? I'll be right there."

She ended the call and scrambled out of bed, reaching for her clothes.

"You're leaving." Kevin's voice came out flat.

"He's in the hospital, Kevin. He needs me."

"He has doctors. He has family."

"He's alone." Sarah pulled on her dress with shaking hands. "He worked himself sick finishing that merger deal. He drank too much at the reception because he was happy for us, and now he's bleeding internally and I can't just stay here and do nothing."

Kevin sat up, the sheets bunched around his waist. "He's your employee."

"He's my friend."

"And I'm your husband. We got married six hours ago."

Sarah paused, one arm through her coat sleeve. Guilt flickered across her face, brief and bright. "I know. I know it's not fair, but Kevin, if something happens to him and I didn't go, I could never forgive myself. You understand that, don't you?"

"What I understand," Kevin said quietly, "is that Jasper always calls at the perfect time. Always. Every time we're alone, every time we're about to..." He gestured at the bed, at the rumpled sheets still warm from her body. "You don't find that strange?"

"He's in the hospital."

"Is he? Or is he making sure you come running the second you're supposed to be with me?"

Sarah's expression hardened. "That's cruel."

"Is it? Because from where I'm sitting, it looks like he's spent six months making sure we never get closer than a kiss goodnight."

"You're being paranoid."

"Am I?" Kevin stood, not bothering to cover himself. "Tell me the truth, Sarah. Did you want to marry me? Or did you just go through with it because backing out would've been embarrassing?"

The question hung between them like smoke.

Sarah looked away. "That's not fair."

"Answer me."

"I married you because I care about you. Because we've built a life together. Because you're good and kind and you take care of me." She met his eyes again, and hers were wet. "But right now, Jasper is lying in a hospital bed bleeding, and I have to go. I have to. If I stay here while he's in pain, I'll hate myself. Don't make me choose."

"You already chose," Kevin said. "The second you answered that phone."

Sarah flinched. She grabbed her purse, her keys, her phone. "I'll be back as soon as I know he's okay. Just get some sleep. We can talk in the morning."

"Don't bother coming back tonight."

She froze at the door. "What?"

"You heard me. If Jasper Doom is more important than your wedding night, than your marriage, than me, then go. Stay with him. Make sure he's comfortable."

"You don't mean that."

"Try me."

For a long moment, Sarah stood there, backlit by the hallway light spilling through the open door.

She looked small suddenly, despite the designer coat and the diamond ring catching the light on her finger.

She looked like she might say something, might turn around and choose differently.

Then she walked out.

The door clicked shut behind her.

Kevin stood in the center of the honeymoon suite, naked and alone.

The bed still smelled like her perfume. The champagne sat unopened on the table. Rose petals scattered across the floor like tiny wounds.

He'd spent three years loving this woman. 

Three years giving up everything he'd built, everything he'd become, because she made him feel like maybe there was something worth staying human for. 

He'd been the War God, codename GODsFALL, the man kingdoms feared and emperors negotiated with. He'd commanded armies, toppled governments, made his name a weapon.

And he'd thrown it all away for a woman who couldn't even give him their wedding night.

The cold settled into his bones, deeper than any winter he'd ever known.