Chapter 16

As I melted into the sofa, snuggled deep into a cocoon of thick blankets, I groaned miserably. I could feel my stomach pulsed with pain. It ached, throbbing in a type of agony that was slowly bringing me to tears. 

“Are you okay?” From the voice, I could tell it was Joaquin talking to me. He poked me through my swathe, “You sound horrible.” 

“Nooo,” I whined, “Tummy hurts.”

“I’ll grab your heating pad.”

I grumble out a muffled, “Thank you.”

As I heard Joaquin shuffling away, I could feel someone else move closer to me. I snuggled closer to the body heat, ignoring the hand that began to pat around my blankets. “Do you want your stomach rubbed or back?” Antonio asks.

“Back,” I answered, “Don’t want to move.”

It wasn’t long before his hand found my back. He gently began to rub, snickering quietly at my pain as I slowly began to drift off to sleep. The warmth was nice. It helped ease the pain, but it wasn’t enough to dissolve it completely. I would need my heating pad for that.

I desperately needed that heating pad.

“Is Noémie asleep?” A voice spoke up. It wasn’t hard to figure out that it was my papa that was talking. 

“I think so.” Antonio answered. 

“Should we wake her?” Another voice pipes in. 

“We could just re-explain everything to her later.”

“Did something happen? Did one of us do something wrong?” Antonio asks, “I’m pretty sure I haven’t done anything.”

“You’re pretty sure?”

There was silence.

“So you had something to explain to us?”     

“We need to go over some rules,” I could hear my papa speak. “You know, just in case he does come down for dinner.” He continued. It took me a second to wiggle out of my cocoon. I poked my head out, curls falling messily and my tired gaze falling on my dads. “Did you want to start Tony? We should-”

I interrupted, “There’s more rules?”

Antonio yelped at the sight of me arising from my cocoon. I ignored him, struggling to sit up so I could face my dads. Noticing my attempts, Antonio reached over to help. “I thought you were asleep.” Antonio said.

“Was trying to.” I spoke grumpily. “Talk too loud. I wasn’t able to.”

Papa cooed at the sight of me. Hair strewed everywhere and a tired scowl seemingly permanently resting on my face. He reached over, brushing stray curls away from my face. “Sorry honey.”

I merely shrug. “So there’s more rules?”

“Yes-”

“Found the heating pad.” Joaquin announced proudly. He sauntered down the stairs, waving the object in the air.  “Why the hell-”

“Joaquin!”    

“Why are you sitting up?”

“They were talking about more rules.” I shrugged again, “It sounded important.”

“It is important.” Dad insisted. He motioned Joaquin to join us back on the couch. With a roll of his eyes, Joaquin ventured down to join us. Dad waited until Joaquin settled onto the couch before continuing. “I’m sure you all realize that for the first couple of weeks, he’s probably going to want to be left alone.” Dad began, “He’s normally not sociable with the people around him, less so when it comes to strangers. It's going to take time for him to begin to warm up to us.”

“I heard from the people that have interacted with him that he’s a bit-” Antonio paused.  “…..rude.”

“If I had to live the life that he has, I would be a bit “rude” too.” Papa huffed, “He’s just a boy that needs a little love. Something genuine. We can handle that much.”

I thought back to the moment I spent with him a few hours ago. He was reserved, barely engaging in my blabbing. From that interaction alone, it was hard to tell what kind of life he lived. “What was his life like?” 

“I’ve heard some rumors. Nothing that has been confirmed or denied.” Papa answered, “But whether it is true or not, it isn’t my place to tell. That’s his story and his life to share. You’ll have to wait to see if he’s ever comfortable enough to share something like that.”

“The fact that there are rumors is suspicious enough.” Joaquin spoke, “Who would leak or start rumors about royalty.”

Papa sneered, “Bitter people.”

“He was nice when I talked to him.” I piped up.

I didn’t think there was anything wrong with what I said. But from the looks that I received and the silence that followed, I’m assuming that I shouldn’t have mentioned that. Papa was too busy glaring at dad to notice the looks my brothers were giving me. They were confused and concerned, but I could see the rage starting to build. 

I did not want to deal with that.     

“Talked?” Papa echoed.

“You were with the prince?” Antonio asked.

“Yeah.” I answered truthfully, “Dad asked me to give him a tour around the house while he-”

“Alone?” Joaquin interrupted. 

I nodded, “.....yeah?”

Antonio and Joaquin turned their attention to our dad. “You let Noémie spend time with a man, alone?” Antonio asked. 

“He’s only a few years younger than you. I would hardly call you a man, let alone the prince. He’s still very much a child.” Dad argued, “And I was in the kitchen the entire time. I would hear if anything would’ve happened.”

“I’m confused.”