Royalty

~ 2 ~

The night crawled on as Daniel tossed and turned in his bed, plagued by nightmares that he would forget by the morning light. Sitting up in a flash, drenched in sweat, Daniel stood from his bed. Slipping on his slippers and grabbing the water bottle from his nightstand he silently walked into the kitchen. Filling up the bottle in the sink, he sighed and rubbed his eyes. Once full, Daniel took a long drink, the cold water soothing his hot body. As he made his way back to his room, once again he spotted movement in his peripheral vision. This time he turned his head just fast enough that he caught the outline of someone darting from the window. Confused, he stood there for a minute, wondering why someone was watching him through a window in a mansion in the middle of a large portion of a forest. As he turned to go back to his room he stopped in his tracks.

"Why are you out so late?" Lucien asked tilting his head to look down at the shorter male.

"Sorry Master, I woke from a nightmare and had to fill my water bottle," He said bowing. Lucien shook his head.

"Cut the formalities right now. It's 2:30 am, let's get you back to bed," he stated as he put a hand on Daniels' shoulder. Daniel was shocked, his eyes wide as Lucien led him back to his room.

"Why are you up so late Master?" Daniel asked as the walked.

"Hmm? Oh me? I don't sleep very much," Daniel tilted his head, wondering how this man could work and stay alert with the bare minimum of sleep. Shrugging they arrived at Daniels door. Lucien pushed the door open slightly, they moved Daniel in front of him.

"Goodnight Master," Daniel said as he bowed. Lucien nodded and Daniel closed the door, his face burning. Daniel was blushing a rosy red color, and he couldn't pinpoint as to why.

'Maybe I'm coming down with a fever?' He thoughts as he sat on the edge of his bed.

'Why did Master walk me to my room? I'm just another servant,' he wondered as he started to drift to sleep, his mind filled with the Master.

~~

The sun flooded into Daniels room, waking him. As he stretched himself and yawned he looked around his cramped room. As his eyes wandered, he noticed something sitting on his small desk. It seemed t be a note or letter, its white envelope the only thing on the desk. Standing, he picked up the paper and scrutinized it. Written in black, scrawling ink, was his name. Nothing clued him in as to whom it was from. Shrugging. he set it back down and got ready for the day., straightening his tie, he walked out of his room.

"Good morning Daniel," Josh, a fellow servant greeted as he passed the male in the white suit. Josh wore a black suit with a teal bowtie, he had only worked in the mansion for a few weeks, but that was longer than most- other than Daniel- had stayed. Daniel had worked in that mansion for almost 2 years, much longer than most everyone. Shortly after he and a couple others were hired, many quit because they thought the work was too hard Daniel had nowhere to go, and no one to go to. So he stayed.

Daniel work, letting his mind wander as he completed his usual routine. Clean the dining room, hang the laundry, dust any rooms that needed it, gather the mail. As he completed his second to the last task, he sighed. He retrieved the mail from the box and walked to the Masters' office.

Inside the office Lucien sat, wondering how things have changed... about how he has changed. There was a knock at his door and he looked up from the papers he had been staring at.

"Enter," He said simply, knowing it was Daniel with the mail. Daniel bowed, his hair covering his blue-gray eyes shortly. He held his hand out and placed the letters on the desk. Daniel took a step back, clasped his hands behind himself, straightened his posture, and stood still, waiting for another task or dismissal for the day.

"Daniel, come here," Daniel stepped forward a bit, and the Master held his hand out, a letter within.

"This is addressed to you.." Daniel reached out and grabbed the paper, his hand brushing Lucien's. Daniel blushed a light pink as he pulled his hand away and looked at the letter. His name was written in scrawling black ink that he had seen before.

'Ah! There was a letter similar to this in my room this morning,' Daniel had completely forgotten about the strange letter on his desk. As he bowed to leave he was stopped.

"Open it here," Lucien stated, more of a command than a suggestion. Nodding, Daniel slowly opened the letter. Reading it his eyes widened.

"What does it say?" Lucien asked, tapping his lip with a blue pen as he raised an eyebrow. Daniel cleared his throat before reading it aloud.

"Leave this place while you can. He doesn't want you to be hurt," Daniel looked up from the paper, searching Lucien's feature for any sign of emotion.

"Do you know what this is about?" Lucien asked, an eyebrow raised in curiosity. Daniel shook his head, more confused than Lucien was. Then he remembered again.

"There was a letter like that on my desk this morning, I haven't opened it yet," Lucien nodded, at his words.

"Go retrieve it," Daniel bowed and walked to his room fastly. Snatching the letter that still sat on the desk, he walked back to Lucien's' office. He entered and held envelope out for Lucien to take.

"You open it," Lucien said as he looked down at the paper he was writing on. Opening it, Daniel pulled the paper out.

"He wants you back," Daniel tilted his head, confused about what it meant.

"And you know nothing about this?" Lucien asked and Daniel nodded again.

"I have no clue what this is about. And...." Daniel trailed off, he wanted to tell his master of what he had been seeing, but he didn't want him to think he was insane or seeing things

"And what?" Lucien was a bit aggravated that he had not finished his statement. Lucien noticed the light blush that was growing on Daniels' cheeks, the pink tint stand out on his pale skin.

"Um... I've been... noticing some strange things recently. I didn't think they were important," Daniel stuttered out, nervous to confess about his strange findings.

"Things like what?" Lucien was intrigued.

"I've been noticing things that are not where they are supposed to be, or things that I have never seen before... and... I have been seeing people walking around the perimeter of the mansion and looking into the windows and I keep seeing movement of things out of the corner of my eye," Daniel rambled, telling him everything he saw. Once he was done, Lucien took a moment of silence to take in what Daniel had said.

"Interesting..." Lucien was comprehending how to handle the situation.

"I don't feel safe right now... Do you think that you could... protect me?..." Daniel asked nervously, a bright red blush appearing on his cheeks. Daniel looked to the ground, embarrassed that he even asked. He waited for what seemed like forever for his response.....