𝐑𝐈𝐅𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐃 𝐀𝐂𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐌𝐘

Chapter 31: I'm Getting Married?

———————————> WARNING: DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

     One dinner with his family on Christmas. That was all Chaol had to get through. Seeing his mother and Terrin was worth it. His father... he couldn't stand five minutes alone with that man.

"How's your studies going?" His father questioned, cutting into his meat.

The dinner table was set, the smell of food wafting in the air. His father sat at the head with his mother on his right side, Chaol on the other, and Terrin just beside him.

Chaol picked at his vegetables timidly, "Everything's fine."

The tension was chocking him, but he managed to swallow down a bit of his carrot.

"I heard that you got a boyfriend!" Terrin chirped in. Looking at his big brother with excited eyes, making Chaol smile.

"Yes. His name is Dorian."

His mother gave a worried glance towards their father, "I'm sure we'd like to meet him soon."

Out of the corner of his eyes, Chaol saw his father's hand tighten around his knife.

Terrin continued to speak all the while flinging his fork in the air, "I wonder if he likes marvel. Maybe he likes Iron Man like I do-"

"Enough!" The table shook as his father smacked his hands on the table and stood up. "I've had enough of this conversation!"

His mother stood up as well and put a comforting hand on his shoulder, "Darling, calm down-"

Too quickly did she stop talking. She slowly reached up to touch her cheek, red and starting to blister, from the slap he pained her.

"Father?!" Terrin cried. He backed away and ran around the table to mother, who pushed him behind her protectively.

His father's eyes were glistening in rage, he snapped his neck towards Chaol, "This is your doing!"

"From the minute you informed us of your... affection towards men, I've been nothing but supportive. Waiting for you to realize this is all just a phase! Now you listen to me young man. I know where this is headed. You've had a taste of rebellion, but mark my words- you either give up this act or get out of my sight!...I'm enlisting you in the army! That ought to get you straight again!"

Chaol took every hurtful word to heart. He looked his father straight in the eye and said, "I'm not going."

"This is not a phase. I love Dorian! So much that he doesn't deserve to be spoken about like this. And neither do I."

Grabbing his jacket off his chair he marched past his father who was shaking lividly.

"When you've finally realized that you live in the 21st century, I'll be here," Chaol stormed out of the room.

"Get out!" His father yelled, "Get out!" Over and over again until he finally made it outside and smashed the door close.

His heart didn't slow down. He could feel the adrenaline course through his veins, and the realization of what just happened finally dawned on him.

"Chaol, baby, wait a minute!" His mother was frantically running down the block after him. He stopped to let her catch up.

"Honey, I'm so sorry about your father, he just needs time to accept who you are. He just needs time..." She explained softly but he ignored her words and stared at the spot on her cheek.

"Was this the first time?" His mother instinctively reached for her face, "Was it the first time he hit you, mom?"

When she didn't answer, he choked back a sob.

"It's only been a month," She sighed, rubbing up and down her arm, "I thought he'd stop by now."

Chaol couldn't believe the words that escaped her mouth. After all that time, and he hadn't the slightest clue what was going on.

"You're coming with me, you and Terrin. Both of you are going to live with me until we figure this out."

"But Chaol-"

"No, mom. No buts. Get you're bags because you're leaving."

His mother's eyes lightened a bit and he watched her go back into the house. Less than half an hour later his brother and mother came out the front door. The sounds of shattering glass come from inside.

They all walked to the train station and didn't utter a single word during the whole ride.

If Aelin was being honest, she really didn't want to go back to the Academy. She was doing perfectly fine with her friends, cool apartment, and the fact that they were far away from Maeve. Gods, if she ever saw that conniving little bitch it'll be too soon.

At the moment though, Aelin couldn't be bothered to care about Maeve, not as she saw Dorian's heart break right in front of her.

"W-What? The army?"

Chaol's head dipped with exhaustion. He'd taken his mother and Terrin back to his own apartment to settle in and then walked all the way to see Dorian.

"My father thinks it'll 'set me straight'. It's bullshit."

     He sighed, and walked into Dorians open arms. They gripped each other tightly, and Chaol clutched the back of his boyfriends shirt to keep himself from falling.

     "I'm not letting you go," Dorian stated with as much confidence as he could muster at the moment.

     Chaol managed to crack a small smile, "One step ahead of you, babe."

      Muttering something about getting some sleep, Dorian took them both to Lorcan's room, which the latter realized too late what was about to go down in there.

     There was another knock on the door and Aelin was not expecting to see what she did.

     Standing in the rain was Lysandra... wearing a wedding dress... holding a bouquet of flowers in her hands.

"Oh hey, Aelin! Is Aedion here?"

     Aelin gaped and opened the door wider in Aedion's view of sight. Too much crazy for one day.

"Aedion! Congratulations on the wedding!"

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