Chapter 17: I Swear

x~X~x

Adrian didn't have the time that he would have liked to process what just happened because his family, Amelia, and Erik all came into the room soon after Daniel had left. They all surrounded him asking him if he was fine, considering he was still weak looking and his voice was still scratchy from not using it for so long, so even he wanted to answer them, he couldn't. The best he could do was smile and nod at any of their questions, he soon forgot about the kiss that happened between him and the prince.

It was nearing nightfall by the time he convinced his family to leave and come back over the weekend. Once the door to the room shut Adrian lets out a long, heavy sigh. He loves his family, he really does, but they can be a handful most of the time.

"Well, that was an interesting event." Amelia doesn't raise her head from the hilt of her sword. She had sat down in the corner of the room on the floor not long after they arrived, letting his family have the first go at talking to him.

"I agree," Erik stands from his chair, "they were a little too," he puts his hand on his chin, thinking of the perfect word to describe Adrian's family, "extra."

"I know, I know," Adrian waves his hand at them. "They can be 'extra', but that's to be expected after I have been asleep for three months."

Silence falls throughout the room and something that Adrian had forgotten about resurfaces.

"Hey, guys," both Amelia and Erik look at Adrian. "How was the prince acting while I was asleep?"

They both look at each other, contemplating what they should say to each other, and to Adrian.

"He was wandering around like a lost puppy." Amelia smiled to herself, remembering something that had happened in the few months that Adrian was sleeping.

"The only thing that I'll say to that statement is that is a very rude way to address him, other than that, it's pretty much true."

"Really?" Adrian raises a brow to the comments being made. "A lost puppy?" He chuckles to himself at the image that pops into his mind, although he grows silent not long after. Adrian runs a hand through his dull and limp hair, thinking about what he's going to do to be able to talk to Daniel.

Adrian reaches to the other side of the bed and pulls the IV stand around to the side of the bed that he is getting off of. He doesn't make it very far though. He walks maybe four steps before he starts to collapse under his own weight. Amelia catches him in time though and picks him up under his knees and back.

"This just got awkward," Adrian mumbles under his breath, looking down in shame.

"Is the little man embarrassed? I bet Daniel hasn't seen that face yet." Amelia looked down to Adrian, before moving him into a wheelchair that Erik had pulled out of the closet that Adrian couldn't see due to the fabric divider, and hangs his IV bag on the chair.

They both back up and take in how he looks. They scan from his still sunken-in face, then imagining what he could look like underneath his hospital gown, then their eyes see his legs and how thin they are. Amelia just silently grabs a blanket and covers his legs.

"Thank you guys," Adrian looks to both of them. "I really hope that when I can get up and around again we can have a day to ourselves. I'll even take you shopping." A light smile appears on Adrian's face.

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Amelia grabs the chair and pushes it towards the door that Erik is holding open. "When I go shopping at other people's expense I go all out."

"That will be perfectly fine. I just want to spend some time with everyone again."

x~X~x

They spent the rest of the time on the way to the prince (found out he was in the library thanks to a maid that was yelled at) talking about the different things that had happened over the last few months.

At first, they talked about what happened that night and the next few days after the incident. How Donovan was arrested and Diego sent to a secret prison that only the King, Queen, and Amelia know about. Donovan is awaiting punishment pending what Adrian tells the King what all happened to him and what Donovan told him. Both Erik and Amelia could see at one point that Adrian started to look gloomy so they changed the subject.

They arrive at the library doors and they all look at each other for a quick second before Erik opens the door and holds it open for Adrian.

x~X~x

Daniel hears the door open again and sighs to himself. He just yelled at a maid no less than two hours ago about trying to deliver his food when he had asked for them to leave it at the servant's entrance and he would retrieve it himself.

He stands and puts an almost frown on his face and begins to almost stomp his way to the door. He turns around a bookshelf and freezes at the sight he thought that he would never see again. Adrain is just at the door in a wheelchair smiling at him faintly. Adrian makes his way over to him slowly, his footsteps unsure, and his face one of shock. He staggers his way over to him then sinks down to his knees to be at eye level with him.

"How did you get here?" His voice is almost a whisper, but in the silence of the room, it rings loud. He is still embarrassed that he left him in the hospital room after he left him, but the shock of seeing him actually being outside of the room is strange. The doctors had told him that he would need to stay bedridden for a while and shouldn't be able to move around, let alone get into a wheelchair and push himself around.

"Amelia and Erik helped me. I just had to see you after, and I quote this, I was told you 'looked like a lost puppy'." Adrian's voice is still a little horse sounding, but it has definitely got better.

"Tell me which one said that and I will have them thrown in the dungeon." Even though he didn't want to smile at that he did smile, and it was a true, happy smile that even when he was down in the dumps his friends were still watching out for him.

A smile crept its way onto Adrian's face as well.

"Why would I tell you that? You would just be better off throwing us all into the dungeon for not giving the one that said it up."

They laugh at each other.

"Do you still want to work under me?" Daniel's voice is so quiet that Adrian almost didn't hear the question.

"Of course I do," Daniel couldn't see the smile on his face, but he lifted his head just in time to hear Adrian finish his sentence, "because I love you."

Seconds pass before it clicks in his mind about what was said. He stands up fast enough that he pushes the wheelchair back and the blanket falls off due to the prince standing on the edge of it.

The prince doesn't even miss a beat when saying, "How can you still say that when I am the one that caused that to you?" He wasn't raising his voice at all, instead, he is just calm and questioning.

Adrian pushes himself slowly towards Daniel.

"None of that was your fault, and even if it was somehow your fault I would still love you." Adrian can't stand to give Daniel a hug so he just leans forward and hugs his torso.

"Do you swear to stay with me now and forever and protect me with your-" Daniel stops his sentence and Adrian pulls back to look at him, "with your very life? To serve me and only me in my times of need?"

"At this point, I would get down on my knees but I can't so this will do. I swear that I will serve you and only you in your times of need, and even at the cost of my life I will protect you." Adrian bows his head at the prince.

"Do you swear that you love me and want to stay here with me?"

Adrian's head is still down, but his face is one of shock. He could almost feel Daniel about to sigh, but he already has his answer ready.

"I swear that I love you and I swear that you are the only one that I want and I will stay here with you both in life and death, health and illness, prosperity and poverty, I swear that I will stay here with you."

That must have been just the answer that Daniel was looking for because he lifts Adrian's head and pulls him into a deep loving kiss.

x~X~x

This is the end of this book. I might post a few chapters after this to kind of  "finish" the story. Also, I don't feel the greatest about this story so maybe, later on, I might re-write it.