All For Love

Chapter 8

A/N - Sorry for the delay bringing this chapter to you. I ended up re-writing the whole chapter, but I think it's better (although much longer) than the previous version. Enjoy 😊

Adrien really couldn't take his eyes off Marinette. He knew he shouldn't be staring, it was very ungentlemanly of him, but she was far more interesting than the copy of David Copperfield that Nathaniel let him borrow out of the library. She was sitting on a little settee by the window, sewing a dress out of some material that Zoé had given her. She had spent most of the last few days working on it while Fu and Nathaniel worked on ways to try and get him and Marinette across the border and back to the Capital.

He hated knowing they would have to leave. While there was a renewed sense of urgency due to his apparent death now spreading across the country, and he feared for the lives of his father and cousin, every day closer to returning to the palace meant another day closer to when he would have to say goodbye to her. If he could bottle up time, he would lock them away just as they were right now. He, sitting in a chair with a book by the fire. She, absorbed in her project with the adorable way she poked her tongue out to one side as she concentrated. The soft red fabric cascading over her lap.

She noticed Adrien looking at her from across the room. She looked up and smiled, a touch of red spreading across her cheeks. Adrien thought it matched the colour of the dress. Red looked good on her.

"How are your eyes today?" She asked, tucking her hair back behind her ear.

"It gets better every day." He smiled back. "I can almost count the freckles on your nose from here."

Her cheeks rapidly deepened in colour. "How do you even know I have freckles if you can't see them?"

"Because my near vision is better than my distant one." He smirked. "And I do tend to wake up before you, so what else am I supposed to do in the morning while you sleep?"

Adrien wasn't sure it was possible for Marinette to get any redder as she focused back onto her dress. She was smiling though, and that was without a doubt his favourite look on her. Adrien could hardly imagine going back to a time where he didn't wake up to see Marinette's face. He knew the servants in the place had already noticed her bed was never slept in, but they at least kept their discretion, They might do nothing more than hold hands, even if he wanted so desperately to hold her close to him, but he could feel her warmth next to him and it brought him so much comfort.

Marinette smirked a little. "What is it?" She chuckled at the amused look on his face. "You look like the cat that caught the mouse."

Adrien shrugged. "Maybe I did." He said with a smug air. "Or a bug."

Marinette stopped her sewing and looked over at him. "Oh? What's that supposed to mean?"

Adrien folded his arms and put his nose in the air. "Can't tell you yet... it's a secret."

Marinette rolled her eyes but was giggling. "Fine. You keep your little secrets Kitty, but I'll wriggle it out of you. You'll see."

She went back to her sewing, but Marinette could feel Adrien was still looking at her over his book. Last night Master Fu had spoken to Adrien after dinner, and she could only assume he must have told the Prince about the prophecy. Adrien had been fairly quiet at bed time, so she didn't like to ask, but this morning he had been unusually chipper, even dare she say... attentive? Well at least more attentive than usual.

A few minutes later, Zoé came in and asked them if they would join the others in the dining room. It was too early for dinner, so Adrien assumed they must have had some news since Zoé and Nathaniel had gone into the village earlier in the day. As they entered the dining room they found Master Fu, Alix and Nathaniel sitting at the table with papers across it.