Taken- a Selection FanFiction

Chapter 20

"What's going on here?" Aaron demanded. He walked into the room, his stomps loudly sounding on the tile floor.

"Aaron," I sighed.

"No," he said, directly cutting me off. "I want him to explain." He flung a finger at Nathan, who still had an arm wrapped around me. I tried to squirm out of his grasp, but I didn't budge.

"Why should I?" He questioned. "I love her, obviously."

Aaron was fuming at the point, and I saw a few nurses whispering as they passed the open door. He looked back and slammed the door angrily. A picture fell off of the wall, and its frame shattered. He cursed under his breath.

"She isn't yours to have. She's Illèan property, which makes her mine," he said calmly, venom laced in his voice

"You clearly don't respect her the way I do. She deserves respect after everything she's been through, something you haven't shown," he said through gritted teeth, his grip on my waist tightened immensely.

"How dare you say I don't respect her! I love her," he shouted. I winced at the aggression and strength of his voice.

"You just referred to her as your property! I'm so sure you love her, just like the other five girls in this ridiculous competition?"

"Stop!" I shrieked. They looked at me as if I magically appeared. "You can't talk about me like I'm not here! I'm not yours," I said to Nathan, causing Aaron to smile a bit. "Nor yours," I added to Aaron as his smile faltered. "If neither of you can respect me enough to even acknowledge me, then you can't have me! I'm not yours to win!"

I raced out of the door, slamming it behind me. I noticed the ring on my finger, the black diamond shimmering. I jerked it off and opened the door. They both looked at me with surprised glances. I threw the ring across the room at Nathan, it hitting his chest and falling to the ground.

I went to the ballroom with a death glare on my face. Guards and staff averted their eyes, afraid I might hurt them or scream. I threw open the doors to the ballroom where the other Elite were, along with their dance partners.

Jeremy Leger stood alone at the edge. I walked to him and put my hand in his. People continued to stare at me, and after everything that's happened in the past hour, I was tired of dealing with it.

"Start the music!" I commanded. The small band gathered specifically for the Elite were positioned on a small platformed stage. They began a light waltz, completely opposite of my behavior right now.

"Elisa," Jeremy started.

"What?" I growled, surprised by the venom in my voice. He looked slightly amused. "I'm sorry," I mumbled sheepishly.

"You don't have to hold my hand to tightly. Relax, it's affecting your dancing," he said soothingly. I did as he told me to and relaxed my muscles.

I tried bending more as I danced, making my moves swift and nimble. I felt myself become calmer with every step I took. The music seeped deep into my bones, and when it stopped, an eerie silence filled my soul. I opened my eyes, but Jeremy was no longer in front of me. Instead, there was Aaron.

The song started again and he forced his hand in mine. "What are you doing here?" I said acidly. I was careful not to become tense, so that I would still dance up to par.

"I'm dancing with the Elite," he responded simply. "Are we going to talk about this?"

"I don't see why we should," I reasoned.

"Elisa, you can't love two men," he contradicted. My grip immediately tightened.he only used my full name when he was being stern.

"But you can love six women?" I questioned. He closed his eyes and grimaced. "I'm not going to argue with a hypocrite."

"You should know that you're different, Elly."

"How am I supposed to know that? How am I supposed to compete with Every other girl here? Danielle's beautiful, Pepper is so bright and intelligent, Leila is polite and sweet, it's impossible not to love Opal, and then there's Kiara."

"What about her?" He gulped. He acted like he had something to hide. I would definitely look into that later.

"She's all of those things and more. She's amazing, and the best possible Queen out of all of us. Which is something I can't compete with," I was on the verge of tears.

"Come with me," he ordered, grabbing me by the wrist since I wouldn't take his hand.

"Aaron, it's the middle of the lesson," I said, fighting the stares I got from other girls.

"I don't care," he said, dragging me outside and to the stables. He paused in front of an unfamiliar stall. It wasn't Nike's or Midna's and I was extremely confused. He then opened the door to the stall and revealed a beautiful white horse.

"What is this?" I choked, glaring at him.

"This your mare," he stated matter-of-factly.

"I don't have a horse," I said unsurely.

"You do now."

"Aaron, I can't accept this random horse you pulled out of your ass!"

"It's a mare, not a donkey," he joked. I suppressed a smiled and continued to look at him. "But in all honesty, I was going to surprise you with her before you got kidnapped to try and cheer you up after what happened."

"I'm not even going to stay here forever, so what's going to happen to her after I'm gone?" I asked expectingly.

He took my wrists and forced me to look into his blue eyes, filled to the brim with affection. "You're not going to leave anytime soon if I can help it. I just got you back, Elly." He pulled me into a warm embrace. I laced my arms around him as my anger dissipated. "And I'm not going to let you go."

"I love you," I said confidently. I was sure this was what love was. I didn't know how I decided, but I knew that I was never not in love with him. I may love Nathan, but I'm not sure how this would even work.

He smiled and pulled me in for a kiss. His lips were soft as they pressed gently against mine. I brought my hands to his face and pulled him closer. I felt like this one kiss was going to help me make up for lost time, and I was breathless when we pulled away.

"What are you going to name her?" He asked me. He rubbed the top of my hand with his thumb.

I thought for a moment. When I was younger, I always loved a beautiful white horse we had. Mother never let me ride her, but I would sneak out to the stables and feed her apples while I petted her. I did this every day until she got traded for a thoroughbred racehorse.

"Ira," I said, naming her after the horse from my childhood. He smiled and nodded his head.

"You want to ride her?" He asked with a raise of his eyebrow. I beamed and nodded my head wildly.

He chuckled and went to saddle up Midna. After that, he put an English saddle on Ira. He helped me up on the horse, and I adjusted my skirts comfortably. We both got out into a pasture and looked at each other.

"Catch me if you can," I challenged. I kicked Ira's flank, causing her to break into a run. We rode in the meadows until the sun went down.