Chapter 12

"How did you sleep, Emperor?" Aiden asked while digging into his breakfast along with Maroon.

"I slept just fine! I always find falling asleep to snow very calming. As you know, we don't get much in my region, so it's always nice to see it." Maroon replied.

"What did you want to speak with us about?" Aiden asked before taking a bite of his scrambled eggs. I looked down at my plain plate of fruit as the aroma of bacon found its way to my nose.

"Ah, yes. We need to make a date for your wedding and discuss how everything is going to work out on your special day." He replied. "I'll start off by saying that I am wanting this to happen soon. Originally, you should have been married by this coming week, so now that I have given you some time, I would like to see this moving along."

"How soon are we talking?" I kept my eyes low, replaying what had just happened to me not even twenty minutes ago. It was almost like I could still feel his hand on my skin. I couldn't understand how he got so angry in such a short amount of time. To know that I blushed thinking about him this morning is more than embarrassing because it definitely didn't age well.

"Ideally, in the next month." Maroon announced, making my mouth go dry. "I already have a dress being made for you, dear." He said smiling at me. I flashed a shy smile at him to hide the emotions that were clouding my mind.

"Oh, that's lovely. Who is making it?" I asked.

"The same woman who made your dress for your birthday this year. I really liked her work, so I asked her to do the job and she was happy to. I saw her progress recently, and I can't wait for you to see how beautiful it is." I put on another smile, but by the way Maroon was looking at me, I had a feeling that he knew my mind was elsewhere.

I felt the warmth of Aiden's hand on my leg, making me instantly uncomfortable. I attempted to shy away from his touch, but he didn't budge. Aiden shot a warning glare at me which influenced me to stay still. I didn't want to be afraid of this man, but physically and with the fact that Maroon was on his side, I was no match to him. I quietly sighed and looked away as I began getting angry with the way I acted in his office earlier. I could have avoided all of this if I just put the necklace on.

I believe that my actions were reasonable since Aiden had his hands threateningly around my neck, but at this point, I was walking on thin ice with Aiden and Maroon if I keep defying him. I could have costed my father his life for what I did back there, and I never want it to come down to that. With those thoughts, I relaxed in my seat and allowed Aiden to keep his hand where it was to hopefully increase the chances of him letting the incident go. He readjusted his grip, but this time, it was tighter.

"Would you like this wedding to be public?" Aiden asked.

"Not exactly. There will only be a select few that will attend such as family and friends, but the public will be able to view you after the ceremony to celebrate with you." Maroon explained.

"Where will it be?" Aiden questioned.

"It will be in the Chester Garden, a beautiful place." The name took me back into a deep memory in my childhood that I had forgotten.

When I was just a little girl, Maroon would always take me to that garden to catch butterflies. It was a time where Maroon and I had the best relationship and everything was simple. I used to always beg him to take me to the garden so that I could play, but over the years he started taking me less until I didn't bother to ask anymore.

"You remember that place, yea?" Maroon asked cockily. I let out a small laugh and nodded.

"Yes I do." I said. "It will be nice to see it again."

"I picked the place out just for you." I felt a hit of evilness in his tone, telling me that he didn't pick it for me, he picked it in spite of me. He picked a place I once loved to only have it be ruined.

"How sweet of you." I commented while I picked at my nails, choosing to ignore it. Aiden must have noticed my lack of care for the conversation and squeezed my leg tightly underneath the table. I could feel Aiden's eyes on me, but I kept my gaze on Maroon who sat across from me.

"The reception, what will that consist of?" Aiden asked, also deciding to ignore the thing that was bothering him.

"We will throw a similar party like every year for her birthday, but we will make it more memorable and come up with ideas that it will make it more special for the both of you. This will be a big day, and I know by the way I'm describing it, it's sounds like any normal wedding, but this will be one of the biggest moves in our history." Maroon said proudly. I swallowed back my words for him and bit the inside of my cheek instead. As this conversation went on, I was becoming more aware of how real this situation was and how much I wanted out of it. However, I had no choice in this.

"Yes, that will be lovely." Aiden replied happily.

"I would like to speak with you both privately a little bit later. Now, I have another conversation with your parents, but I will have someone fetch either of you when I am ready to speak with you." Maroon announced, getting up from his seat.

"See you in a little while." Aiden said.

"Alright, I will see you both soon. It was wonderful having breakfast with you." Maroon left the room a few moments later. As soon as he closed the door shut, Aiden shifted his body so that he directly faced me. I peered over him to find that he held a displeased expression.

"Taisa, what is your problem? You hardly spoke a word during our breakfast and didn't even eat anything off of your plate." He questioned demandingly.

"I don't know, maybe it's the skin on my face that still stings, but that's just a guess." Aiden shot up from his chair and snatched my arm to bring me up with him.

"You got what you deserved, and I won't hesitate to do it again if I see any more behavior like that." He hissed.

"I am your fiancée, Aiden, not your punching bag. You're not going to hit me. Scream at me, curse at me, ignore me for a week, I don't care, but you are not going to hit me." I stated firmly.

"Yes, you are my fiancée, but I will not have a fiancée that will treat me with such disrespect. I hit you because you needed to learn that your behavior was unacceptable and won't be tolerated, and lecturing you seemingly wasn't enough."

"How do you ever expect me to respect you when you treat me like this? I will never have respect for an abusive man, or any man that is like you. You can't expect me to listen to you when all you do is physically and mentally abuse me to get what you want. I can promise you that if you make my life hell, your life will be hell too." I snatched my arm away from him and stormed out of the dining hall, ignoring his calls. I couldn't stand to look at him after what he did and said to me.

I need to go back to my kingdom before this can get any worse.

I walked around, urgently searching for Maroon. After some time, I spotted him and Aiden's parents in the same area Aiden and I spent time together last night. I tossed those worthless memories to the side and made my way over to them. "Samuel." I made myself present.

"Oh, Taisa! Hello, is there something you need?" He asked.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your conversation, but can I speak with you privately?" His parents held a worried look on their faces, especially Jeanette. I sent her a nod to communicate with her that it was alright.

"Why sure." He insisted. "I will finish speaking with you both at a later time." He told them while getting up to stand next to me.

"Any time your ready, Emperor." Noah said kindly. Maroon and I said our goodbyes to them and quickly left the room to find a private area. After a silent trip, we showed up at his guest office that was made for him.

"Come on." He said as he guided me through the doors. "What would you like to speak with me about?" Maroon asked as we walked in. I gathered my thoughts as he went to sit down in the chair.

"I want to go back to my kingdom, today." I said.

"Why is that? Aren't you enjoying your time here?"

"No, Samuel. I think I've spent enough time here for now." My plain answer didn't satisfy him.

"What is troubling you?" He asked. I was scared to tell him with the fear that he won't care. "Taisa, speak to me." He rushed.

"Aiden does not treat me fairly and I have had enough of it. Just this morning, he had his hands around my neck and his hand upon my cheek. On my birthday, you promised me that this man would be good for me, and you still have yet to prove that. I am completely disappointed."

"I'm sorry to hear that you are disappointed, but my guess is that you are the one causing all of this trouble for yourself. Is there something that caused Aiden to react the way he did to you this morning?"

"He was upset that I didn't wear this." I said ripping the necklace off of my neck, causing diamonds to hit and scatter the floor. "Aiden came to me with his hands around my neck for that simple reason which made me push him off. All I did was protect myself and he hit me, Samuel. Is this the man that your proud to have as my husband one day?"

"Yes, he is. You didn't listen to his orders, which gives him all of the right to be upset with you and teach you the way he sees fit." My jaw just about hit the floor at his response. "I will send you back to your kingdom today. You need to start getting prepared for your wedding, but you need to start giving respect to him, Taisa. It will only get harder for you if you don't." I narrowed my eyes in frustration.

"I will never respect him." I snapped. "He doesn't deserve my respect and never will."

"Once that wedding band is on your finger, you won't be mine anymore, sweetheart. You will fully belong to Aiden and he will have every right to you. You won't be able to come to me anymore and complain because there will be absolutely nothing I can do about your complaints." Maroon stated. "So if you want to make your own life miserable, go ahead. That's up to you." I shook my head at him.

"What happened to you, Samuel? You used to bring me my favorite candies when I came to visit as a child, you caught butterflies with me in the garden, you taught me how to multiply, and read my favorite books to me before I went to sleep, and you don't give a damn if I am being abused? How did that happen." Rage was pulsing through my veins as I spoke. My heart broke as those childhood memories filled my head. I truly missed the way Maroon used to be. I thought of him as family.

"I will have a plane ready for you shortly." Was all he said. He was now full of no emotion, not a hit of anything in his eyes.

I didn't hesitate to leave the room and slam the door shut. The sound echoing for the entire castle to hear. I made my way towards my room to pack all of my things up. As I got upstairs, I turned my head over to Aiden's room to find him standing there as if  he was patiently waiting for me. I froze in my tracks at the sight of him. My heart sunk into my chest as he took strides towards me. In all honesty, I was more afraid of my fiancée than my emperor.

Aiden approached me slowly as we kept our eyes on each other. "I hear that your leaving soon." He spoke, bringing his hand up to caress the same cheek he had damaged this morning. I flinched away from his touch.

"How did you already find that out?" I asked sharply while crossing my arms over my chest.

"You're quite loud when your angry." He mentioned. "I'm going to miss you." Aiden said as he twirled a strand of my hair loosely around his finger.

"Piss off." I said. I reached to open my door but was quickly stopped my Aiden pulling me by waist to crush my back against his chest. His lips brushed the side of my neck with his heavy breaths flowing down my skin.

"Hey, I'm not going to hurt you," He said to get me to stop struggling. "but I'm going to tell you this..I will always win. No matter what it is, I'm going to win, be one step ahead or be there to stop you. I am afraid that you're falling down a hole with your behavior that will get you into more trouble down the road." He spoke softly. "You're going to submit to me one day, and that will happen regardless of what you think."

"Aiden, let me go." I told him.

"You will be seeing me very soon, love." He continued. "The next time we meet is going to be different." Before I could say anything else, he released my body. I stood there in confusion and fear as he walked away. Aiden disappeared into his room, leaving me alone in the hallway thinking about his last words.