I wasn’t sure if he was going to show up until I saw him walk in. Then I saw HER…the bane of my fucking existence at the moment. She slid her hand into his; leaning on him like he belonged to her and his lips formed a crooked smile. That’s how he reacted to the blatant disrespect her presence in our court has shown me. If I had any doubt that he was over me, I didn’t anymore.
“Thien Youngblood…Aria…outside, NOW.” His father Preston ordered. He glared at Qi as he stormed into an adjoining room with Thien and I following. His mother Contessa was the last to join and she made sure to lock the door behind us. “Have you no respect for your own home? For your reputation? For your consort?” His father scolded.
“For your first two questions, yes, ABSOLUTELY.” Thien nods. “For your last question, however, why should I?”
“Why should he?” His father turns to his mother with an incredulous look on his face. He grabs Thien by the scruff of his collar and slams him up against a wall. The next words out of his mouth and his tone left no room for misunderstanding. He expected Thien to follow his orders or else. “Let me put it to you this way. I DON’T CARE WHAT ISSUES YOU HAVE WITH ARIA. ALL I CARE ABOUT IS PRESERVING OUR FAMILY NAME AND OUR LEGACY. YOU NEED HEIRS, SO I DON’T CARE IF ARIA IS LUCIFER HIMSELF. YOU WANTED HER AND YOU GOT HER, FLAWS AND ALL. YOU KNEW ABOUT NOAH THEN AND YOU STILL ASKED FOR HER, SO FIX IT. PUT YOUR EGO AND YOUR PRIDE TO THE SIDE, FIX YOUR UNION AND PRODUCE AN HEIR.”
“Yes father.” Thien nods obediently. He swallows hard.
“You don’t have to do that.” I defend him. “If he wants nothing to do with me I’m okay with that. I’d rather not bring a child into this. No one else needs to suffer for my mistakes.”
“Oh sweetheart.” Contessa gently strokes my hair. “What you want doesn’t matter. Thien knows this. The legacy comes first and once he’s finally here you and Thien can never set eyes on each other again for all we care, but you WILL keep up appearances.”
Someone help me…I’m trapped in hell…
“That’s what’s wrong with you wings today.” Preston starts to lecture us. “You make rash, emotional, hormonal filled decisions and when it doesn’t pan out for you or things get hard you want to run at the first sign of difficulty.”
“Or into someone else’s arms.” Contessa’s gaze fell on me.
Burn…
“I never thought I’d ever have to order YOU of all people to do what I hear you do oh so well.” Preston returns his gaze to Thien. “Send the Harlot home, retire to your chambers with your consort, and don’t come out until you’ve secured an heir.”
“Are you fucking kidding?” Thien shoots him an icy glare.
“MIND YOUR TONGUE!” Preston shouts.
Thien’s face twists in disgust as he nods in compliance. Preston motions for us to leave and do as he says, and reluctantly we both comply. Thien whispers something to Qi who glares at me, but nods obediently to him and leaves. Thien holds out his hand for me to take and I slide my hand into his. We both plant fake smiles on our faces for our guests and guards escort us to our chambers. They have instructions not to let us leave until we produce a child.
If Thien hated me before, this isn’t doing me any favors…
The last thing Thien wants to do is sleep with me and honestly, I’m afraid it will only make him hate me even more than he already does.
“Take off your clothes.” Thien orders.
“No.” I refuse.
His gaze meets mine and I see nothing but contempt in his eyes for me. “What do you mean no?” He narrows his eyes at me. “This is what you want isn’t it? You wanted to get me into bed and whatever you said to my parents obviously worked so take off your fucking clothes.”
“Thien-”
“Havoc.” He corrected me. “From this day forward I don’t want to hear my name come out of your mouth. Call me Havoc.”
Ignoring him, I finish what I was about to say. “I never said anything to your parents. In fact, I haven’t said anything to anyone.” I reply.
“Less talking and more taking off your clothes.” He replies, pulling his shirt off. “I don’t have all day and I’d like to get back to my best friends party.”
He’s treating us sleeping together like a fucking errand and it hurts. There’s no way I’m sleeping with him. Consort or not, he can go fuck himself. I walk to the other side of the room, lean against the wall and glare at him and wondering how we even got to this point.
“Aria…”
“I’m still in love with you. You may be over me or in love with Qi, or both…but I’m still in love with you, which means I CAN’T DO THIS. Not like this. Not like its some meaningless business transaction for you.” I cut him off.
“Oh please.” Thien scoffs. “Just pretend like you’re running back to Noah since that’s what you do best. Fuck it, pretend like it’s going to help you save your son if it gets you off, just TAKE OFF YOUR CLOTHES.”
I launch a dagger at him with lightening speed and it gives him a superficial cut just below his eye. Shocked, Thien raises his hand to his face. Seeing the blood on his fingers he turns towards the mirror to see the cut on his face. He grabs the dagger I threw at him out of the wall, but before he can do anything with it I leap onto his back and began wailing on him as tears and unintelligible sound comes from my lips.
In short…I…LOST…IT…
Images of being with Noah, when I didn’t really want to be, flash in my head. Thien is no longer Thien. He’s Noah and for the second time I feel like I’m being indirectly forced to compromise my dignity for the sake of duty. I’m pulling his hair, I’m biting, kicking, scratching and clawing at Noah…or Thien…or one of them…I’m not exactly sure who at this point. I just know that I’m tired of compromising myself. I’m tired of feeling helpless and unloved and the only thought prevalent in my mind at the moment is ‘KILL’.
I take my second dagger and slice at any and every part of his body making contact. I’m out for blood and Noah is going down…or is it Thien? It doesn’t matter. They both hurt me and they both deserve to die for it.
“DAMNIT ARIA STOP! SNAP OUT OF IT!” Thien’s loud voice rips me from my blind rage as the back of my head hits the wall.
Suddenly I’m back in my chambers with Thien’s hand around my throat. I’m up against the wall and my feet are dangling. I’m suspended in air by my neck and I no longer have my daggers or any of my weapons.
I finally look at Thien and gasp. He has cuts everywhere and he’s losing a lot of blood. His eyes flutter and his strength weakens as blood drips from all the cuts to his upper body.
Oh no…what the hell did I just do!
Thien’s eyes roll into the back of his head and he slumps to the floor, releasing me. I let out a blood-curdling scream as I bend down and cradle him in my arms. “HELP!” I shout to the guards outside. They both burst into the room and one throws up while the other goes to retrieve the Medic.
Thien’s parents come rushing in and his mother lets out a wail only another mother could understand. They try to come near me, but I won’t let them. They’re trying to take him from me.
Unable to pry him from my arms, the Medic does what he can to save Thien’s life. It feels like an eternity before the Medic is finally done working on him. His wounds are all gone and he’s no longer bleeding but he has yet to open his eyes.
“Please don’t die.” I sob. “I’m so sorry.”
“What did you do to our son?” Contessa asks.
“She didn’t do anything.” Thien’s eyes finally open. “I did.”
“You tried to kill yourself?” Preston asks unconvinced.
“It’s a long story. For now I just want everyone to leave.” He demands.
Reluctantly, they all leave him in the room with his attacker…ME. He sits up and backs out of my grasp. He’s angry with me.
“Thank you.” I express my gratitude.
“I didn’t do it for you.” He replies coldly.
Seated side by side on the floor at the foot of our bed, we both just stare out into space in silence. “I’m sorry.” I apologize, breaking the silence after a few minutes.
“Once we have an heir, I want nothing to do with you, do you hear me?”
Tears form in my eyes but I nod obediently. I just tried to kill him and he saved my ass. Had he not, I’d be on a one-way trip back to the Fortress, future Queen or not. Maybe he felt he owed me that much.
“Aria, take off your clothes.” Thien sighs. This time he’s asking instead of ordering me around.
I stand and do as I’m told, fearing my disobedience will only drive him farther away. He stands and takes me in with one lingering gaze. I’m dying on the inside, but none of that matters. All that matters is we have to produce an heir. His heir.
ns 15.158.61.23da2
