36

The peaceful palace where Aria resided, The Golden Palace which was usually peaceful was now in chaos and Aria was a crying mess, for a military trained empress he was pretty distraught and in shock. "What do you mean the children are not in the palace?!" Aria yelled as he looked at his head maid. "The maids reported that they were last playing hide and seek, since then they haven't been found." Eunice reported."Get the surveillance footage! I will tear up anyone who has anything to do with their disappearance." Aria said."Empress calm down." Tyler said as he walked towards the pregnant male, in attempts to try to embrace him."Don't you dare!" Aria said as he stepped away from the emperor and started to walk to his room leaving the emperor and the remaining servants in the lounge area."Where are you going?" Tyler asked trying to mask the hurt he felt when Aria 'rejected' his efforts to hold him."To get my killing kit." The empress said with a coldness to his voice, one that made the servants shudder. He didn't even need to turn around and look at the people behind him to make them cower in his presence."Your highness, you're pregnant I'd ad-""So I should let some imbecile think they can have my children and not attend to the consequences?" Aria said, stopping to turn on his heels and glare at Eunice for being brave and stupid enough to question her master."I apologize!" Eunice said as she knelt down on her knees and laid her head flat on the floor."Now do me a favour and make sure I don't catch whomever it is." Aria said as he turned again and headed to his room, his aura cold and icy as if he wasn't the one crying and in tears a few minutes ago."I always forget he's scary." Tyler whispered to Richard besides him."Yes you do your majesty." The steward said."Oh really?" The emperor asked as he looked at his steward with a raised eyebrow."Don't act oblivious your majesty." The man stated and turned to walk away from the monarch."Find the children, please. And do hide the kidnappers from the empress, I really can't stand for blood shed from empress." Tyler said as looked around the lounge, spotting a wall filled with picture frames.Pictures of his children and their mother, smiling at the camera, playing around with water balloons, amusement park rides and stalls. The pictures captured memories of his wife, memories that he missed out on on multiple occasions."On second thought, let the empress do away with them like he does." Tyler said as he looked back to Eunice who seemed to still have been in the lounge for an unknown reason."Yes your majesty." The head maid said."Don't you have footage to look for?""Ah, yes your majesty." Eunice said as her feet moved her body towards the security room."I'll show that bastard who the fuck I am." Aria said as he walked back to the lounge, a gun in hand and a black duffel bag in the other."Really?" Tyler asked as he saw his wife sat the bag by the table next to the fireplace."You're way too calm, Tyler, WAY too calm for my liking." Aria stated as he stared at the emperor with a questioning gaze. While he was stressed out about his children, the emperor had done nothing, and he means absolutely nothing when he heard of the news."Should I panic and be crazy like you?" Tyler asked with meaning."You think I'm crazy? My children are missing incase you forget. YOUR blood and flesh, royal lineage itself is missing and you want me to be CALM?!" Aria yelled at the emperor."It's not good for the baby empress." Tyler tried to soothe the other male, he was still stood by the picture frames and wasn't going to approach the empress until he knew Aria was calm and approachable."I could care less about an unborn baby. We're talking about children who are actually alive and not some sack of meat inside my belly!" Aria claimed as he clocked the gun with a magazine of bullets."Now that's not fair on the baby." Tyler stated as he crossed his arms and gave the empress a judgemental look. Aria looked up at the words and caught sight of his judging husband's look."Tyler my living children are gone, don't you understand? I'm the empress of Atlia, a military general and a prince, should I list off how dangerous it is for me to not know where my kids are at?" Aria retorted with so much emotion in his voice he wasn't quite sure which emotion was he feeling specifically at the moment.He was angry, anxious, sad and scared at the same time. His mind was running chaotically every second that passed by with him not knowing where his kids are at."So excuse me if I'd choose four actual living beings over an unborn, not fully carried to term baby." Aria continued as he saw the emperor still looking at him. He continued to load all the guns that were in the bag with magazine bullets and placed them neatly on the table."And I don't blame you, but you can do that by still considering Bona's life." Tyler said and the empress stopped what he was doing and looked at him."Who's life?" Aria asked."Bona?""Huh?""The baby, empress." Tyler stated."You want to name it Bona?""No, it's a nickname I having been giving a thought to.""Ah, yes I forgot about the nickname giving." Aria said seemingly like he had calmed down. He stared at the guns on the table for a while, not moving and Tyler took this chance to walk over only for the empress to start sobbing, his knees went weak but luckily for him the emperor caught him."My babies, j-just where are t-they.." Aria sobbed into the emperor's shoulder as he held his belly."Shh shh... Don't worry, we'll find them, you and me and they'll be safe and unharmed." Tyler coaxed the sobbing male as he rubbed circles around his back and held unto his neck."I-i couldn't k-keep t-them safe. T-they were r-right under m-my nose, b-but somehow t-they still got s-stolen. How could I let this happen, t-they're just k-kids!" Aria continued to sob as he vented to the emperor.The empress had already lost another child, he couldn't bare to loose anymore children. What was even worse was that he pushed the whole thing to the back of his head, he had ignored the fact that he had lost another child a few months back and the fact that he still hasn't fully recovered from the plane crash wasn't helping him one bit.He had walked around like he was a normal pregnant human being, as he didn't almost die and that he didn't actually loose a baby, he had made himself believe that it was life and unfortunate things happened all the time that he forgot to just heal and grieve like a normal person would.He was already six months pregnant, any inconveniences from here onward would cause for a very dangerous miscarriage."I-i already lost one c-child, I can't loose a-anymore c-children Tyler. I can't bury another one of m-my children. W-we, w-we have to find them q-quickly, I told them I'll always keep them safe and now this h-happens. If anything happens to them I won't forgive myself." The empress hiccuped as he tightened his hold unto the emperor."It's ok my love, I said we'll find them. Your men are beyond very capable of doing so and you didn't fail our kids at all. You're the best mother they could have wished to have, I'm pretty sure they're safe wherever they are and I know for a fact that Aaron will make sure of it." Tyler calmed the empress down, he has always known his wife to be strong and never showed weakness, this isn't the first time he had saw the empress break down, but it surely was the first time seeing the empress this distraught."Your highness, we have a lead!"