Chapter 13

I fell in the arms of my father, relieved to be back in my kingdom. His arms were locked around me tightly, not wanting to let go. I let him hold me for as long as he wanted, not understanding of how worried he must have been.

"It's good to have you back, Taisa. I'm glad you're alright." He muffled in my hair. We slightly parted from our embrace.

"I'm happy to be back. It's so good to see you, Father." I said with a humble smile. "How has everyone else been?"

"I think you should go say hello to Serene. She has been so worried about you all week." My father said. I nodded my head. "I believe she is in her room."

"Thank you father." I beamed before taking off to Seren's room. I burst through the door, making her jump in surprise as she sat oh her bed.

"Taisa?" She said with her hand over her heart. As she fully realized that I was now here, she sprung up from her bed and ran over to me to give a bone- crushing hug. I laughed with pure joy as she did so. "Oh my goodness, I've missed you!"

"I missed you more." I said as we parted. "I'm sorry I wasn't able to get ahold of you."

"No, please don't apologize. I wasn't upset with you or anything, I was just worried." She rambled. "So... how was it?" I slowly looked to the ground, thinking of what to say. All I could do was look back up at her with no answer. "Oh Taisa..." she pulled me into another hug. I felt my eyes swell up with tears as I felt her genuine care and concern for me.

"I hate him, Serene." I said weakly as I tried not to let my tears fall. "He's a nightmare."

"What happened?" She asked, looking me in the eyes. I brushed my hands over my neck, signaling for her to see the light bruises Aiden hands have left for me. Her shaky fingers glided over the sore skin. "Taisa.. no..." she squeaked. "When did he do this?"

"Just last morning before I left." I replied. "I made him angry because of something I said."

"What did you say to him?"

"Honestly, I don't remember." I replied, trying to think about what I did to make him angry enough to hurt me. Serene took my hand and pulled me to her closet. I watched as she rummaged through her clothes and pull out a few things. She handed them to me.

"We are going to figure this out okay? Take a shower, put these on, and we can talk about it if you want. I'm sure that it's been hard not to talk about it with anyone there." She said. I nodded my head and headed towards the bathroom that we share. When I got into the bathroom, I stood in the mirror and examined myself after turning the shower on.

My eyes landed directly on my neck, seeing the damage that he left on me. I watched as a tear rolled down my face, dripping onto the sink. Aiden did this only a month into our relationship, which meant he would only do more. My body crumbled in panic on the bathroom floor. I tried to not let Aiden intimidate me, scare me, get the best of me, but he is the man I will be the forced to spend the rest of my life with. Legally, he will have complete control and power over me, which leaves me completely trapped with no way out. No matter what I say or do, even to the emperor, Aiden has all of the power.

Tears flooded out of my eyes, releasing all of the emotions I was forced to build up for the past month. With all of the pain, it felt good to let it all go. I took a small moment to gather myself and stood to my feet. My eyes met the mirror to find that it was too fogged up to allow me to see myself.

I didn't want to see it anyways.

After I hopped out of the shower and gotten ready for the night, I opened the bathroom door that lead back to Seren's room.

".... You might have to call at a later time, she's in the shower." Serene said into my phone. She turned over to me with a worried expression on her face. "One moment.." she put the phone into her shoulder.

"Who is it?" I asked as I walked over to her.

"A-Aiden." she said.

"Here, you don't need to speak to him, let me take care of it." I offered, holding out my hand. Serene hesitantly placed the phone in my hand and I brought it up to my ear. "What do you want?" I demanded.

"There you are, hello sweetheart." The deep sound of Aiden's voice rung in my ears. "I called to check on you."

"You don't need to check on me, I'm fine." I stated bluntly.

"Taisa, Love, there is no need to get so upset." He said, making me far more infuriated.

"I left your kingdom so soon because I couldn't stand the abuse anymore, so I don't appreciate your call. Your hands left marks on my neck, and all they do is remind me how much I dread being with you." I heard a soft chuckle through the phone.

"Or maybe they'll remind you who your under, or teach you a lesson about how you should speak to me. Do you not understand that I will be your king, darling? I would believe by now that you would understand how to use your manners and show respect towards your king."

"I will be your queen, your equal. I don't care about your sexist opinions about the hierarchy, I will be your equal and I demand to be treated as such. If I were to treat you the exact way that you treat me, I would be six feet under by now. It is not fair that I am being told to respect you when you do things such as threaten my family, physically hurt me, and treat me as if I am some slave to you and do as you ask." I exclaimed angrily. It was silent for a few moments before he spoke again.

"Here is what is going to happen now, Taisa." He said lowly. "I am in the midst of speaking with Emperor Maroon, and neither of us are very happy with you right now. Your behavior has gotten way out of control, and I bet it is that father of yours that has influenced that."

"Aiden, you are not going to touch him-"

"I will be arriving in your kingdom very soon, and you will be coming with me. If you or your father forbids it and openly disagrees with the Emperor's wish to marry us, you both will be punished greatly, along with the rest of your kingdom. So it is up for you to decide now." With his words, I looked up at Serene. I studied her face, seeing how worried and scared she was for me.

I can't let Aiden hurt my family or the innocent people of this kingdom.

"Why must you do this, Aiden?" I asked mournfully.

"Neither you or your father are following the Emperor's orders of accepting this marriage, and you deserve punishment for it. You also need to learn that you cannot act this way as my wife and the queen of my kingdom. I must set you straight so that you will reach your full potential as each role."

"I don't want to fill those roles, can't you understand that? I shouldn't be punished for expressing something I truly feel, and that is what I will continue to do until you give up." I said firmly.

"Is that so? I believe that there is no one else that can fill those roles, and no matter what you say or wish, you still don't have any power here. You will fully be under my account soon, and I will make damn sure that you will act like it.  You know how far I am willing to go to teach you that, so you must decide how this is going to work out for you." I swallowed at his threatening words, beginning to feel the familiar feeling of hopeless. "I will be seeing you soon, my love."

____________________________________

"Father, please, he is going to hurt us both if you refuse to let me go. He also threatened the people of our kingdom if you don't abide by their wishes." I begged, sitting in the chair across his office desk.

"Taisa, look at you! There are bruises all around your neck and I can practically see his handprint on your cheek. You're my daughter, and my duty as your father is to protect you at all costs. Allowing you to marry that man and take you away into his own hands is not protecting you." He countered.

I understand that, father, but you must listen to me." I said. "Even if you do say that you don't agree with the marriage, Samuel is going to make it happen anyways. You can't defy him, father, so please make this easy." He shook his head frantically at my words.

"That son of a bitch." He cursed under his breath. "I'm sorry, Taisa, but I cannot watch you go through with this. I need to try everything I can to get you out of this marriage with King Heart."

"You can't. I'm sorry, father, but you can't. Samuel has his mind set and there is nothing we can do." I stated, try to get my point across.

"So I'm just supposed to let you be abused and tormented by this man for the rest of your life?"

"I will obey his every word, I will be kind, I will learn how to deal with him in every way possible so that he won't hurt me. I am willing to do that. It is what I need to do to save our family and our kingdom, and I'm ready to do so." I watched as he stood up and paved the room, thinking to himself for a few moments. My heart sunk in my chest once I saw him shake his head again.

"No, I still won't let you do this. You will never be happy if you agree to this."

"Father, my apologies, but you are being foolish. Don't you understand that if you openly tell Samuel that you are against this, they will punish us? Father, I think your anger is clouding your head because you're not remembering the simple fact that I am the only person that can do this. He can't chose another princess because there is not another one."

"Don't call me a fool for trying to help you." He snapped at me, making me sink in my chair. "The emperor can find another prince for you to marry."

"Not even Aiden himself could influence Samuel to pick someone else, and they are on the same side here. Father, please just do this for me, I'm begging you. I promise that I will find a way to be happy." My father sighed, sitting back into his chair. I could see the distraught look in his eyes when he looked up at me. "I will be alright. You just have to trust me." He kept his eyes on me for a moment longer.

"Alright." He whispered weakly. A weight instantly fell of my chest. "I won't fight it."

"Thank you." I said.

"Can I ask you for one thing?" He asked. I nodded my head. "Never let him change you."