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Min stood silent in the antechamber of the great hall in the newly constructed palace. It was the largest intact building she had seen since the end of the war and it frightened her. Everything about this situation terrified her. She was about to get married to a total stranger and none of her protests had been heeded from the moment the wedding had been announced.

Her father stood beside her, tugging on his newly tailored shirt. “This will all work out in the end, Min. You may be marrying a man you do not know, but you’re my daughter. You are the scion of a proud house. Do not disappoint me.”

Min did not speak. She hadn’t spoken a word since her father had threatened her with death for her defiance. This Emperor Jeven was a powerful man. He had unified all the human planets into one empire over the course of a decade. He had improved everyone’s lives. He had brought the galaxy back from the brink of destruction, and he had done so with a minimum amount of bloodshed.

The doors to the great hall opened and the wedding march played. Her father led her down and as she walked Min got her first look at her husband to be. For a man who had been pacifying a galaxy for ten years, he was remarkably young – perhaps only in his early to mid thirties. He had blonde hair and grey eyes, and only a very neatly trimmed close-cropped beard and not the full facial hair so many men still wore.

He was dressed for the wedding in a military cut outfit, but it was not a military uniform. It was more elegant, more refined even than what her father wore. On his head was a crown that looked a little battered around the edges, as if it had been thrown together from spare parts someone had, and he had an expression on his face of resigned acceptance. Perhaps he was as unsure of this wedding as she was.

He caught sight of her and raised an eyebrow. Min knew she was not as beautiful as her older sister. The man who’d chosen her as Jeven’s wife had assured her that beauty was not one of the primary requirements. They wanted cleverness, a willingness to rule with Jeven, and a passion for helping those in need. She had two of the three requirements. She wasn’t sure if she was willing to rule with Jeven, but she would at least try.

Her father left her standing beside Jeven and the vows were spoken. Jeven took her on his arm and led her back out into the antechamber. “We must wait here for a little while,” he told her. “They are turning the wedding venue into a feasting hall.”

“I see,” Min said, speaking for the first time in three months.

“What is your name? My aide did not even tell me that much before he forced me into this.” Jeven looked at her curiously.

“My name is Min.”

“Min, you are quite pretty. I hope you have cleverness to match your looks,” Jeven told her. “You are going to need it.”

“I have been told I am quite clever. It was my father’s main complaint about me. He didn’t want clever daughters. He wanted beautiful and obedient daughters. As I was neither, he wasn’t sure what to do with me,” Min told Jeven.

“Your father didn’t think you beautiful?” Jeven asked.

“Compared to my sisters? I am the plain one,” Min told him.

“Your sisters must be stunning beauties then, because you are anything but plain, Min. And I value cleverness more than beauty, so that is something I asked for when I sent my aide out to find me a wife,” Jeven told her. “You are the first empress of the new empire now, Min. That is a lot of responsbility. I will help you learn what you must do, but you will have to work hard to support our people. Will you be able to handle it?”

Min was startled at his question. She gazed up at her new husband and for the first time since she’d been told she had been selected, the fear faded away. She looked into his serious grey eyes and smiled. “If you will teach me, I will do what I must.”