The Emperor at War

He's the most powerful man in their world. She doesn't care. Julian was never supposed to be the Heir to the Empire.

That was his brother's role. But now that the title is his, he's grown into being Emperor like a second skin, letting his old scholar self die an untimely death. When his good friend, Shawn, asks Julian to personally join the war on the Southern Sea, he thinks it's a joke.

But no, Shawn has found the woman he believes the Emperor should marry. So Shawn told the most powerful man in the world to come and 'fetch' her. When the Emperor sees Hiasinth, he assumes Shawn selected the woman for her beauty alone, somewhat insulted that his friend believed Julian would only want a shining jewel without depth.

But he soon discovers, in both their quests to save Shawn's betrothed, that their minds carry more alikeness than either has met before. Fate has linked them more deeply than the Emperor would have believed, so he never suspects her lack of willingness to bow to his wish and make her his Empress. But he's willing to win a war just for her.