She woke up with the sun, as was customary for her; though it was much harder to force her eyes open because she had been kept up the night before. She silently slid out from under the covers looking over to see him on his side facing her and fast asleep. She swiftly left the room, and slipped out the door. When she turned from closing the door, she jumped a bit at the presence of two large guards standing on either side of the door. One of them gave her a curious look, and she blushed furiously under his gaze; "I'm his maid," she mumbled in a poor explanation, "I'll be back later too." Before one of them could comment on her all night presence in his room, she skirted away from them and briskly walked down the hall.

She cleaned all the other rooms she was in charge of, before finally going back to his room. She carried clean towels and bed sheets, a small feather duster in her hand. She gave a small smile to the new guards, thankful it wasn't the ones from that morning. The younger guard beamed back at her, and hurriedly opened the door for her. "Thanks," she whispered quietly, her smile growing bigger. With the door closed behind her she looked up to see him still in bed, with his torso up resting against the headboard. He studied his fingernails as she moved further into the room, then he looked up with devilish smirk, "Flirting on the job."

A blush stained her cheeks at his implications, but once again she decided silence was the best response. He wiggled his eyebrows at her, which she chose to ignore while she made her way to his adjoining bathroom to clean.

"I haven't even been in there," he said offhandedly as she began to change out the towels.

"I know," she replied in a monotone voice. She heard a groan from the bed, and then his light footsteps as he walked over. She suddenly shrieked as the clean towels she had brought suddenly transformed into two white doves. They quickly flew in circles around the bathroom, and finally out the door and then through the open window.

She heard his low chuckle from where he was leaning against the bathroom door frame, "I told you it was clean."

Without even thinking or turning to face him, she repeated what he said in a nasally, mocking voice. He immediately grew quiet, and she slowly rotated on her heel to face him. She nervously met his gaze, his eyes bore into hers. "I'm…I'm sorry," she stuttered out.

A dazzling smile spread across his face, "Just clean the bathroom." She obediently nodded her head, and he turned his back to her. He paused on his way back to his bed, and swiftly snapped his fingers. She knew without looking around that the bathroom was in shambles.

When she finally finished cleaning his mess, she timidly entered back into his room, hoping his typically undetectable temper would have diminished or had disappeared all together; the latter, she knew was nearly impossible. He didn't even look up from the book he was engrossed in, and a light sigh of relief escaped her as she began to dust. She knew he was no longer reading when the dust that covered nearly half of his unused tables and chairs began to disappear before she even reached it with the feather duster. She turned her head slightly to the side to be greeted with a self satisfied smirk plastered on his face. It only grew when she pivoted to face him fully, and her silent question was asked with the rise of one eyebrow.

His eyes left hers and fell on the clean bed sheets she had brought, "You need to make the bed, since the current sheets are probably quite soiled from last night." She stood in her spot as he stared expectantly at her from where he was still lounging on his bed. "No blush?" he asked, sounding nearly disappointed. Her teeth clenched together and his face slightly lightened.

She struggled to get her words out for a few seconds, his sudden shift in attitude unnerving her, "My…my lord…if you don't…I would prefer to sweep and then make your bed while you go before your father and bro…" the last syllables fell off as she watched his eyebrows pull together and he seemed to steel himself again an invisible attack.

"Am I to be summoned before the king and his son?" he asked spitefully. Her eyes were wide as she quickly nodded in affirmation; she had only heard it as gossip in the halls but she was quite convinced of its truthfulness. She silently noted his choice of words regarding his brother and father. She saw his twisted humor fall away as he pulled his lips into a straight line, and folded his arms across his chest like some petulant child. "Well that does sound like a perfect time to change the sheets," he spat out.

An hour or two later when several guards entered the room to take him away, he was already standing and ready. His arrogant and constantly amused expression was gone and replaced with a vacant stare as he willingly followed them out; hands bound in chains and a some sort of gag over his mouth. His eyes brightened a bit as he looked at her, and he slyly winked at her, finally gaining a blush from her. Although she couldn't see his mouth she knew her reaction was causing him to smile, and despite his amusement resulting from her own embarrassment she couldn't help but give a small smile in return.

She quickly changed the sheets; wanting to be done before he returned to mock her and her chores. She sat on the corner of the bed, hands folded in her lap, waiting. As the minutes passed she realized it was going to be awhile before he was brought back. So she carefully made her way across the newly laid blankets and gently took a hold of the book he had been reading. She nestled herself against his pillows, her back elevated and began to read.

The words were strange, and few made sense to her but the farther she got into the book she the more she began to understand that the book in her hands was one about magic, and based on the owner of the book she knew it couldn't be any good. She pressed on, continuing to make her way through the foreign words trying to comprehend them. She was so lost in the book that she did not hear when he was roughly pushed back into the room, struggling to remain on his own two feet. She was pulled from her reverie when he suddenly sat next to her, chin resting on her shoulder, reading along with her.

She looked at him from the corner of the eye, and it was a few seconds before he caught her stare. He then sat up fully beside her, "That doesn't seem like your kind of book," his voice wasn't demeaning only objective.

"No," she whispered softly as she closed the book. She looked up at him curiously, but he stared at the far wall, lost in thought. Without thinking her fingers ghosted over the marks that the chain had left on his wrists. He turned and tilted his head to study her, and her hands quickly withdrew. "What happened?" came her timid voice. She regretted her words as soon as they left her lips, which was only worsened when his hands clenched into fists.

She began to scoot away from him as the silence grew, but when his eyes caught hers she froze. "The king is not happy," his tone was light and amused but she noticed his hands remained balled up, "And his son remains foolishly optimistic." She stared intensely at the book that lay between them, but she ran her fingers lightly over his knuckles, and whispered unsurely, "Maybe your brother is not so foolish."

He studied her, but she refused to look up at him, too intent on watching her fingers trace his hand. He suddenly moved his hand and grabbed a hold of her wrist, tightly, "What are you doing?" he asked, his tone both rough and confused. "I don't…you just seem lonely," she stammered. He dropped her wrist, and picked up his book, completely ignoring her as he began to read.

She slowly moved away from him, and eventually swung her legs over, her feet resting on the soft carpet. He suddenly glanced her way, and she gave him a sheepish look in return as she stood. "Where are you going?" he questioned her casually.

"Your dinner," she muttered under her breath. She wasn't in charge of his breakfast or lunch but the head maid knew that she had time to bring the fallen prince his dinner and so that's what she did.

He gave her one more flippant look before returning his attention to his book, "Make sure its good." She didn't roll her eyes until her back was to him and she was nearly out the door. "I'm serious," he growled right before she slipped out.

When she finally returned with a platter of food, ignoring the leers she got from the guards from the night before, she opened the door to see him asleep, book open on his chest. She tiptoed into the room, stopping when she got to where he was sleeping. She gently set the plate on the bedside table, debating with herself if she should wake him or not. As her hands withdrew from the platter, his hand shot out and grabbed her wrist, forcing her to come close to him. He didn't open his eyes until she was close; he spoke barely above a whisper, but she caught his words, "How can I be lonely if I have you?"

She quickly snatched her hand back from his grasp, her throat suddenly tight, but he didn't seem to notice because his eyes slowly drifted shut and he fell back asleep. She slowly retreated from his side, not turning her back to him until she got to the door. Once outside of his room, and out of sight of the guards, she began to run and she didn't stop until she was on the other side of the palace walls.