Chapter 7: Chapter 7

"Taisa... Darling, wake up." The voice echoed in my head, making my eyes flutter open. I quickly curled my legs to my body as I became aware of the room's colder air. My vision came to focus on Aiden leaning above me, my stomach tightening at the sight of him as I recalled out dispute only a few hours ago. "We are just about to land." He informed before turning away. I let out a quiet, shaky breath as I sat up in the bed, not sure what to say or do now that I was awake.

I slept the whole way? When did I fall asleep?

I didn't want to be, but I was truly becoming scared of him, the person who was to be my husband. It worried me that Aiden was willing to hurt me to the extent he did just because of something I said. It only made me curious as to what else he would do to me if I were to make him angry again.

Maybe I shouldn't...

"...Taisa? Are you listening to me?" He called out, snapping me out of my thoughts. I quickly lifted my eyes up to him to see him waving his hand to get my attention. "I was trying to talk to you." He said, annoyance coming from his tone.

"..S-sorry." I squeaked, finding that my throat was sore. I Instinctively brought my hand to my neck, but flinched as I touched my raw skin. I brought my knees to my chest in a protective manner as I saw Aiden make his way towards me. He placed himself on the edge of the bed and studied me for a second, probably seeing how nervous and scared I was.

"Let me see." He spoke, reaching over to me. I put my hand up and stopped him from coming any closer.

"Don't." I commanded irritably, my voice still horse. "I don't need you touching my neck anymore than you already have."

"Taisa, just let me take a look." He said back, his voice growing more stern. I eyed him hesitantly, not liking the idea at all. "Don't make me repeat myself, kitten. I wouldn't want to give you another reminder of what happens when you decide to be stubborn with me." Just by looking at the dark expression on his face, I knew for a fact that he wasn't bluffing. He would do it again without hesitation.

Knowing my narrow range of options, I slowly put down my arm. Aiden then motioned for me to him after noticing that I had put down my guard. I let out a shallow sigh and followed his order, not wanting to create another problem for myself. I swung my shaky legs over the edge of the bed and sat anxiously, waiting for his next move.

Aiden moved my hair away from my neck, causing my skin to erupt in nerves from the touch. I was so scared that he would hurt me, but I kept telling myself to just let him. He won't hurt me if I just stayed still...it was all I had to do. I then felt his fingers graze the sore area, making me wince away from him.

Shit.

"I'm not going to hurt you, Taisa." He said as he continued to examine it. "Just relax." I mentally scoffed at him.

Relax? Just relax? Your hand is by my throat again after nearly choking me do death and you want me to relax?

"I shouldn't have had to to it, you know." He alleged, moving my hair back down to where it was. "Pin you down like that."

"There was no need to do it at all" I said to him.

"But there was. Taisa, you were showing nothing but pure disrespect to me... and I don't take disrespect lightly." I shook my head in disbelief.

"If you want my respect, putting your hands on me won't get you anywhere close." Aiden moved his head to the crease of my jaw, a move to intimidate me.

"You may think that, Princess, but I don't believe that you fully understand what happened when you stopped fighting me." He spoke. "Do you know what happened, kitten?"

What?

"You submitted." My heart sunk into my chest. "You showed submission to me, and that's exactly what I was looking for." He said. "So yes, my methods work, quite clearly." I opened my mouth to say something, but couldn't come up with anything to say. It was incredibly disappointing to hear him say that he won, and it made me feel powerless. "I can see that don't have you wrapped around my finger yet, darling, but you will be someday. I have a lot of work to do with you, but I won't stop until I'm satisfied. I can promise you that." If Aiden could be known for something relatively good, it was that he was a man of this word, but in this case, I wished for the exact opposite.

If that is what his goal is within this relationship, then he will have to deal with the fact that he will never be satisfied, because I will never fully surrender myself to him. Never.

The plane shook from beneath, indicating that we had landed. Aiden stared me down for a moment longer before standing up to his feet, ending the conversation.

I hate him. I truly do.

I silently observed him as he walked around and gathered a few things, including his coat. Noting that he was holding a winter coat in his hands, I cringed down to my bare legs.

"Did Serene pack you anything warm to wear at all?" He asked me, noticing that I realized how exposed my skin was. I shook my head.

"No, I never need winter clothes in my kingdom...so I just don't have the wardrobe for it.." I explained awkwardly.

"Come." He simply called. I reluctantly stood up from the bed and made my way over to him. "I'll give you this. It's not much, but it's definitely better than nothing." Aiden took his heavy coat and put it around my shoulders.

"Thanks..." I peeped, just above a whisper. The sleeves fell over my hands by a few good inches and looking over my toes, I also noticed that the coat reached to about my knees.

"Holy hell." He voiced, making my eyes follow over to him. I saw him standing by the open door with his eyes squinted shut, his curls bowing from the wind. "Taisa, it's going to be very cold for you." He warned me as he walked over to me. "Especially with your legs out like that."

"How long of a walk is it?" I questioned, becoming worried by how concerned he was beginning to sound. Aiden answered my question by showing me to the door.

I was horrified. For my first time seeing snow, this looked violent. Snow blew and whipped around in all ways possible, along with very deep looking snow on the ground. This is where he lives? I couldn't see the castle, or anything, in fact.

"Umm..." I trailed, not wanting to get any closer to the entrance.

"Princess, what's the matter?" He teased. "Oooh, right...this is your first time seeing snow." He chuckled. "Well, I apologize that this has to be your first impression, but I'm sure you'll warm up to it." I noted his joke and rose my eyebrows.

"Yeah, I don't think so." I replied.

The cold air struck my skin. It was dry, sharp, and painfully numbing. I gasped and stepped back, hitting Aiden's chest. He found total amusement in my reaction and laughed as I stumbled into him.

Dammit, it was freezing.

"A-Aiden I can't." I shivered. "I don't even have shoes."

"You don't have any shoes? How on earth do you not-"

"Heels...Aiden I have heels." I told him. My answer was able to make him shut his mouth for a few seconds.

"I'll carry you." He suggested. I gave him a look, telling him that there was no way that I would let him do that. "Unless you want to tread your little legs through the snow, of course. If not, you have to let me pick you up." I softened my face and smacked my forehead, annoyed by all of this. "Taisa, it's really not that big of a deal-"

"Fine." I let out, almost cutting him off. I made the mistake of looking up at him, seeing that he held a smirk on his lips.

"Come here then, Princess." He advised, opening his arms for me. Just the sight of seeing him so entertained by this was enough to boil my blood, and I could tell that he knew how much he was getting to me.

Putting my feelings aside, I drug my legs over to him and stood where he wanted me. Aiden's arms soon snaked around my waist and lifted me off of the ground, causing me to instinctively cling onto his shirt. He held me effortlessly, like I weighed no more than a feather. Just before he carried me outside, he placed the hood over my head.

"You're going to need this."

The wind caught me off guard as it was even stronger once he came out into the open. My breath was taken away from how cold and pricking the air felt against my skin, but Aiden didn't seem to react to it one bit, even when the snow was up to his shins. In that moment, I didn't care who was holding me, so I gripped him tighter to find any possible warmth. "You alright?" He asked with his voiced muffled out by the wind. I only replied by holding him back tighter than I was before. "We are almost there. Hang tight, Princess."

After what felt like hours, we reached the castle. The doors opened to welcome me back into the warmth, and I couldn't be more grateful. Aiden carried me in and looks down at me adoringly, his face slightly pink from the cold. "Welcome to my castle." I shivered in his arms while looking around. By the time we got here, it was night, so I didn't have a clear look of the castle, but I could already tell that it was marvelous. The place was only lit up with minimal lighting on the walls, but it was just enough for me to see the aesthetics of the castle. "I will show you around in the morning, but let's get you something warm to wear." He announced while placing me down.

I silently agreed and followed shortly after him once he began to lead the way. As we went deeper into the castle, I couldn't help but be amazed my the architecture. It was almost as if it was built with the intentions to be a cathedral. It was quite tall, huge stained glass windows along the top and paintings along the walls... it was brilliant. But, then we showed up to what looked like to be an elevator.

"You have elevators?" I questioned.

"You don't?" I shrugged my shoulders as he pressed the button, unsure of how to make conversation out of this. The door opened, allowing us to step inside, but once we stepped in, Aiden made sure that my back stayed flush to his chest.

I wanted to resist him in every way possible, but after that threat he made to me about my father, and to me personally, I just couldn't. If I'm stuck in this situation, I need to play it smart and study him before I did anything else.

I was beginning to understand that one wrong move could end very badly for me, and I couldn't risk that. Not now.

He pressed the button that led to the top floor of the castle, and we began to move up. "Are you feeling tired?" He asked.

"I don't sleep well when I travel," I said.

"I figured." Was all he said back.

Maybe I would have slept better if I fell asleep on my own and not from lack of oxygen, but I guess you one can assume that.

We reached the top floor, and the doors opened to reveal a beautiful hallway. The large glass windows that I observed earlier allowed me to look down at a good portion of a village on the outskirts of the land. I wasn't able to see much due to the heavy snow, but I could see the soft yellow lights.

I moved my feet along the cold floor to become closer to the windows and pressed my hands up against them, amazed by the scenery. Aiden kept close enough behind me for me to feel his breath on the back of my neck. "This will all be yours one day." He spoke. Goosebumps rose on my skin from the sound of his husky voice.

"Mine?" I questioned, not straying my eyes away. The place looked quiet...peaceful with the storm falling upon it. The weather was sure extreme here, but I couldn't deny its beauty.

"Ours." He corrected, now closer to me. Still not comfortable with his touch, I felt my pulse spike in my chest. "All of this will belong to you and me." Then his lips landed behind my ear, placing a soft kiss on my skin. "And you're going to be their beloved queen."

"Queen." I repeated him, now with my eyes numbly glued to the window. "All of these years being Princess...and I still don't know that that means." I said honestly. Aiden moved his hands to my shoulders and pulled me away from the window to turn me around. I came to face him, seeing how fully his face was lit by the candle light.

He then brought his hands to my face slowly and cupped my cheek. "That's why he chose me." He said, caressing his thumb on my delicate skin. "I can teach you what that means." We looked at each other, communicating mostly through our eyes. The way his eyes burned into mine was hypnotic, not allowing me to look away. I couldn't tell if it was because I was afraid with his hand so close to my neck he once held, or if it was because I was desperate to gather something about him. His face held many emotions, it seemed. It gave me suspicion that the man in front of me had deep layers to him, but I wasn't sure if they were worth investing.

Those layers are what made him this way...Maybe I didn't want to know.

"...but people fear you." I spoke weakly, to the point where it felt like a whisper. Aiden inched his face closer to mine and tilted my chin to meet me In the middle.

"People fear you too."