Author's note: So sorry everyone for keeping you waiting like this. i know you all want to kill me but I've been busy with getting that driver's license and my boring AP book. But here it is! Chapter 18!

"Engaged?" I gasp. "This isn't fair!" I looked at mother angrily. She calmly blew on her tea and took a sip. I leaned back against the couch, rubbing my temples.

"Why?" I mumbled.

"My way of protecting you, of course. We can always kill him." I sat up quickly.

"Don't you dare! He's done nothing to harm me!"

"Your wedding is in a few weeks. I already planned where it would be. All you need is to pick your Maid of Honor and dress."

I blinked an angry tear away and looked at the full length mirror in the Prima Donna's room. I hoper Erik isn't listening to this but then again…

"What if I don't want to get married?"

"Then I'll force you." She answered simply.

"You're horrible." I stood up, walking to the door.

"Where are you going?"

"Carolina's room." I replied, shutting it behind me. Finally I found her room and opened the door to without knocking and plopped on her bed.

"What happened?" She asked when she saw tears.

"I'm engaged." I choked.

"You should be happy…shouldn't you?" She asked, sitting down beside me.

"No!"

"But Emily! You're the luckiest girl to be engaged to Jean!" She gasp.

"My wedding is in a few weeks. A few weeks! She's gone mad." I sniffed, wiping a tear away.

"Well it does seem awfully fast. Don't worry, Emily, you always get out of situations before."

"Not this one."

"Engaged! To Jean!" I roared, flipping a table over angrily. Emily stood a good distance away, careful not to get injured by my violent nature.

"It's in a few weeks." She spoke softly. She was sitting on the steps, hugging her knees while she looked at me. I was breathing hard from flipping a table over and pacing.

"Your mother…is not the same woman I knew 16 years ago."

"Does she hate you?"

"No," I shook my head. "She fears me." I replied, sitting down next to her.

"Why is she doing this?" Emily asked, leaning her body against mine.

"Fear can change a lot of people. She is led by fear. Therefore, she fears that I will ruin your future and happiness."

"But I am happy. She doesn't realize how changed you are." I shrugged a little, not affected by it.

"She never will. She's stubborn to acknowledge it." I smelled in her perfume. The scent of lilacs and blossoms. Intoxicating and enticing.

"I suddenly remembered something." I spoke. I stood up from my spot and went to the jewelry box.

"What?" Emily mumbled.

I opened it, and rummaged around and found what I was looking for.

"Where's your necklace?" I asked. Emily's face paled, she wrapped her fingers around her bare neck.

"I…I don't know. I've been looking for it."

"Look no further." I said, holding out the necklace.

"How?" Emily asked, turning around. She lifted her hair and I took my time clasping the necklace together.

"It was on the bed. The night you gave yourself to me." She let her hair down and turned around, wrapping her arms around my neck.

"You know it's bad to flirt with a married woman?"

"Who says you're married?"

"Where were you?" Mother asked when I appeared in my room that following night. After leaving a very sad Erik, I had to find my way back without a candle. So far, I will have a purple bruise on my forehead tomorrow morning.

I jumped at her presence and placed a hand over my heart to settle it down.

"I went to go see him." I didn't have to explain who he was since she already knew.

"I warned you at first Emily, he will do the same thing he did to me."

"You were young and selfish."

"Selfish!" Her eyes widen in shock as she stood up.

"Young lady, I am not selfish! If it weren't for your father-"

"My father wouldn't even notice you if you hadn't sing. And when you did you forgot all about Erik after he gave you everything and you threw it all away for being a whore."

A porcelain hand came in contact on my cheek. I bit my mouth causing it to bleed. I stared at her with despise.

"Look at me. Look at me!" She forced my chin up.

"Look what you've made me do. Hurt my little Angel of Music."

"You mean Erik?"

"Stop it!" She hissed. "You will not see him again. Do you understand me. I can't let you be with a man who is unstable."

"He was emotionally scarred, thank you very much mother." She brought up her hand, holding a handkerchief, wiping away the blood.

"I said you are not to see him again, as of next week you are Mrs. Emily Claude."

"No, no, I refuse to marry him!"

"Say what you will but it will happen."

"I hate you!" I shouted.

Her body froze at the door and she turned around.

"You don't hate me. You hate what I had become after my own little encounter with Erik. Get a god sleep you'll need it." She said before she shut the door. I gave out a scream before collapsing on the bed, crying.

"This looks absolutely beautiful!" Carolina gasp, looking at my wedding dress. The next morning, mother came barging into my room, carrying a white poofy dress. She forced me to change into it to see the fittings perfectly.

It was a beautiful dress. The sleeves were drooped, hanging mid arm length. The bodice was waist hugging with sequins sewed together to form a flower at the hem. The train was longer than I expected with a big bow at the back making my behind even more bigger than before.

"Ow!" I hissed feeling a needle poked my skin.

"Oh hush, it's just a pinch." the seamstress said, adjusting the hem. I made a face at Carolina in the mirror and looked at mother who was in the corner, discussing with papa about the bouquet. She was picking the exact flowers she had on her wedding day. Roses.

I sighed and watched as the veil placed on me and I pulled it over, completely covering my face. The seamstress fussed and pulled it back, revealing my face again.

"All done." She announced. I turned around, watching my parents reaction. Papa looked rather sad and mother…couldn't be happier.

"How do I look?" I asked.

"Like a bride." Papa spoke. After changing into something more comfortable, papa and I took a walk to the gardens. It was spring now. Everywhere flowers were blooming. Bees and butterflies were hovering around the flowers and birds chirped in the trees. I solemnly touched a hydrangeas petals in silence with papa walking beside me.

"I have something for you." Papa spoke, breaking the silence.

"Hmm?" I turned my gaze away from the flowers to look at him. He held out his hand and there lay a small black box with a ribbon tied ontop.

"Think of it as an early wedding gift for my little girl." I opened it and inside was a ring. My first ring that papa had bought for me. A small pink diamond, cut into princess style. It stood proudly against the sun, gleaming with it's white gold band. I wore this everyday. I wore it while sleeping, bathing and playing. I had lost it around 5, playing in the kitchen with Jacques. I remembered the days I cried and was frightened of what papa might do.

"Papa…how did you?"

"It was in my sugar bowl. You left it there, thinking there was nothing inside for sake keeping because you were afraid of losing it while cooking. I kept it and polished it, making it look brand new." I let papa placed it on my middle finger in my right hand where I always have it on.

"Thank you, papa." I whispered, giving him a tight hug. He patted my back and we continued walking through the garden. We came across a fountain with a sculpted peacock at the top, sprouting out water to make it look like fanned feathers. There was a bench not too far with a weeping willow tree beside.

"Are you nervous?" Papa asked after we sat down.

"I'm scared papa." I turned my body towards him, my ringed hand playing with his hands.

"Don't be. Jean will take care of you. He's a gentleman."

"I had a spat with mother yesterday. She slapped me because I called her a whore."

"Emily!" Papa discouraged.

"I know. I know. It slipped out. I should apologize but she's busy planning the wedding and I still think she's mad."

"Oh, Emily, always having the a smart mouth. Let your mother get some steam out. Wait till she has a champagne or two."

"Papa…what if I don't want to get married?" I started to twiddle with the necklace.

"Is there someone else?" Papa asked.

"What if there was?" I leaned back against the bench, looking at the willow tree leaves sway back and forth.

"Then why are you not engaged to that person?" I looked at papa, his warm gaze locked in mine. He knew I was hiding something. I should tell him. After all, he is my papa.