Marriage in Shambles, Still Going Strong

He knows their relationship is anything but perfect, but they are still together and that must count for something.

It wasn’t that he didn’t love her. He did, how could he not feel something for her?

He had chosen Her to be his wife. Out of everyone, it is she who rules next to him. 

The moment he saw her, his heart yearned for her. She was beautiful and still is. She still takes away his breath when he sees her. She is not the goddess of Love and Beauty, but her beauty still resonates within him.

He took her and forced her to submit to him. She became his and only his. 
It was something that gave him comfort, she would always be there when he came back….because he would always come back. She was his queen. 

She….well, she hated him yet cared for him, yearned for him yet wished she could leave him. He knew this, he could read her, just like how she could read him. 
They had been together for that long. They understood each other. 

He knew that every time he left and sneaked back at night, her heart would break. She would doubt for a second about her worth but it didn’t affect her as it would affect others. She would bounce back, confident in herself and who she was. 

In the morning, she, would glare at him and treat him coldly, reminding him of her rape. How he had taken her and now he mistreated their marriage. He would take it in stride, knowing that she was only angry that their marriage did not reflect her godhood. As a Queen, she had to be listened to and obeyed, and it was that only reason that made her the cold queen to all but him. 

He knew her, just like she knew him. She knew that he would be sleeping with another beautiful mortal, but she also knew that he had chosen her as his Queen. 

Why did he do it?
He enjoyed the feeling of the new, the taste of beauty of both women and men. He was addicted to it. He couldn’t stop himself. 
She was his and only his, and even when he bedded others, he would only be hers. 

They were not perfect.

She with her pride in her godhood and need to establish her control. 
He, with his addiction to beauty and pleasure. 
But they couldn’t work with anyone else. 

So yes, he loved her, not just for beauty and pleasure, but because she was his partner, the only one strong enough for him. She wouldn’t let herself break.

He was the King of the Gods and she was his Queen, nothing would change that.