Caught In A Storm

Chapter V

"Nino! You forced her to let us stay! Why did you do that? Have you seen how uncomfortable she looked?" Adrien whisper-screamed, clearly not happy about his friend's/valet's decision to accept her kind offer.

"Prince Adrien, my first job is to make sure you are safe. And she's obligated to shelter a royal member. You're the Prince, so that's includes you!" Nino countered.

"Nino, you have to call me Adrien. No Prince or Majesty etc." Nino gave him a confused look.

"Why? Remember what you dad said?" He frowned. Adrien looked down and mumbled something Nino couldn't possibly understand. He asked him to repeat more loudly.

"You're my friend! I hate it when people call me that... and I don't want her to know." He answered mumbling the last part.

"She doesn't know?" Ninos' eyes were open-wide in surprise.

"No, she doesn't know. And I might have told her we come from the kingdom of Astruc..." Adrien fidgetted with his hands, scared of his valet's reaction. His jaw dropped.

"You lied to her? Why don't you want her to know?" Adrien shook his head at his reaction, Nino just didn't understand... Adrien swallowed with difficulty, he took his time to find his words.

"I-She is the first person to treat me like one normal human being... just like you do... but without the Majesty or Prince... you know I don't like that..." Nino stayed silent. In the end he nodded and made his way to the chaise, ready to get some sleep. Adrien bolted in front of him, stopping from going any further.

"You take the bed! I take the chaise!" he declared. Nino frowned.

"No! You take the bed."

Using Adrien's lack of reactivity, he nearly ran to the chaise and threw himself on it. Seeing Nino had defeated him, he made his way to the rather small bed. 

He laid down, marvelling at how comfortable in actually was. Sure, it wasn't as comfortable as the one he had back in the castle, but since they had been staying at hotels for the past months, this bed couldn't compare the hotels' beds. He draped the blanket over himself. It smelled like floor and sugar, which left him with a contented smile. He could already hear the soft snores of Nino. He was definitely envying him to be able to fall asleep that fast. He always needed some time, so he decided to look around him, before turning of the light. It was a rather small bedroom, with no special decorations on the walls or paintings hanging everywhere. There was a small desk located near the chaise, which was covered in different papers. He couldn't see what was on them. The curtains were drawn, but he could nearly hear the snowflakes hitting the window. The wind continued to howl outside. He turned off the light, plunging the room into darkness. He fell asleep, enjoying the warmth still coming from the ovens.