Prince Adrian

Chapter 8.

Emmaline woke with a start from her nightmare. She noticed that she was still in the same clothes as the night before. She could hear the cackling of the fire, which confirmed her position on the red satin couch with her head resting on Adrian's lap.

He must have fallen asleep in the sitting up position which had to of been uncomfortable. It made Emmaline's heart flutter a bit knowing that he stayed with her throughout the entire night.

Still feeling exhausted from the previous day she lay her head back down in Adrian and fell back asleep, this time- for the first time in a while- dreamt of her life only this time she was in the castle, with Adrian. Happy.

A few hours later Adrian woke up with a stiff neck. He gently shook Emmaline awake, admiring how she still looked breathtaking after a restless night.

"Em?" He softly asked her.

"Hm?"

"With everything going on, I think we should take a vacation..." this caught Emmaline's attention. "I was thinking a place called Freiburg. I know it's far away and I don't know if you've ever been out of the country but it's-" He was cut off with her contagious laughter. "What?!" He asked smiling down at her.

"Nothing..." she took a few deep breaths calming her giggles.

"Em?" He prodded.

"It's just.... you're cute when you ramble." The petite brunette blushed a bright crimson.

"Well you're cute when you blush." She tapped her nose like an innocent child, but deep down Em knew he was anything but.

"I say let's do it! You only live once right?" She giggled as she realized what she just said. "Or on second thought.... I guess it is possible to live more than once?" She murmured with a high pitch to her tone caused by immediate happiness. It amazes her how no matter what the situation, Adrian can can make her forget everything.

It's crazy how when she came here she hated everything: the dark and gloomy look of the castle, the parties, the people, Adrian... Now as she looked in his eyes she realized that the strange pull she had towards him was real. Maybe it was Stockholm syndrome, but she didn't care. She knew he would do his best to make her happy.

As the couple left the castle and Em got the first taste of the actual outside world in what felt like forever, she was bubbling with excitement!

"Look!" She pointed to a baby bunny tumbling about in the slightly overgrown grass.

"You like bunnies?" Adrian questioned appearing surprised.

"Duh... who doesn't?" She giggled.

The two hurried off to the airport, the whole time Em was droning on about how exciting this was, failing to notice Adrian's silent dilemma.

It has been an extremely long time since Adrian had been out in the great outdoors, and all of the people.... it was very new for him. He could hear each and every heartbeat, noticing a slight murmur in a toddler.

When Em turned around to ask Adrian something she saw the barley noticeable look of pain on his face.

"Adrian, are you okay?" She panicked.

"Huh?" He was zoned out, "oh yeah, no I'm good." He gave her a slight nod.

"You don't look good, what's going on?"

"It's truly nothing." He assured her and picked up a small teddy bear that said, I❤️NY, "Do you want this?" Em smiled in response and said a small "yes please."

Adrian didn't want to worry her with the bad gut feeling he had. He didn't know what it was or why it just appeared, but it had him nervous.

Flight 184, you are now being boarded.

The speaker called out. Adrian finished paying for the small bear, and they were all off.

"Have you ever flown before?" He asked her as they found their seats 32B and 33B.

"Just once when I was a little girl... my mom had business somewhere in Europe. She emphasized business as she could only imagine what it really was. It almost gave her shivers. That was behind her now, she had to keep reminding herself. "What about you?"

"Never." He simply answered. It amazed Em how she was constantly learning new things about him.

"Never? Like, not even for business trips?" She was astonished.

"It's usually my dad that goes." He started, "once we become king and queen, we'll be doing this a lot more." He whispered the last part to her. She loved how he included her in the plans, but yet she was still nervous. She wasn't made to be a queen, her mother was. Would she make a good queen, or would she let the kingdom down?

"Hey what's wrong, I could sense your agitation from a mile away?" Adrian asked.

"Adrian? What if I don't make a good queen, what if you got betrothed to the wrong women?" Her point was valid in her mind, she wasn't the first choice.

"Emmaline, to be honest, I don't know if I'll make a good king... but we'll learn and grow together. So what if we're not perfect." He said in all honesty. It made Em's heart swell, that he was so caring.

Soon after the plane took off, Adrian laid his head on Em's shoulder and dozed off, while she just read a book on her kindle. It was some app called Wattpad, and she found this book that she was absolutely obsessed with called, "After". She was so engrossed in the book that she was startled when a male flight attendant tapped her on the shoulder. She removed an earbud, and politely asked him what he needed.

"Emmaline, don't you know by now it's better if you just stay in the castle?"

"W-what?!" Her voice trembled, as his eyes turned coal black.

A demon.

"They're coming for you." His cold smirk made her quiver in fear.

The demon began to shake and the man opened his mouth, letting out a silent scream as a could of black smoke erupted from him escaping through a vent. The man dropped to the floor, and Em let out a shrill, "HELP!" Awaking most of the passengers.

Adrian awoke with a start asking if Em was alright while examining her only to find nothing. She just nodded explaining that a flight attendant asked her if she wanted a drink before he passed out.

She didn't want him to worry on their vacation.

A/N: GUYS I'M BACK!!!

*que nobody caring*

Anyways, I am so sorry that it has been so long... but I promise to start publishing chapters more frequently from now on! I love you all so much, and thank you for being patient!💖