Wow! You impress me! Just a couple of hours after the last chapter I did and all of a sudden it gets a lot of new likes. You guys are my best motivator to keep on going!
Sofia the first is not my property but I do have this story in my head and I want to write it down.
But please; read, enjoy and please write me some feedback!
This chapter was also so much fun to write. ;-) Anyone seeing me would think that I'm mad when sitting there giggling in front of the laptop… he he he…
Enjoy!
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At the same time in the castle in Enchancia…
Cedric's eyebrows where wrinkled into deep concentration. This could either be one of the biggest traps for him and his troupes, or if he made the right move it could be an utter defeat for his opponent. He glanced at his opponents face also hard in concentration. It was time!
He decided then. This game needed to stop! He put his twin warrior on the red area in front of the sorcerers' tower. Would that be enough to tempt his opponent?
His opponent fell for the old trick and captured the twin warrior. But by doing that it made it possible for Cedric's Pegasus to swoop down and bring destruction to the four bricks directly after the brick the warrior had been standing on. This made the queens garden wide open to an attack. This was his win! The enemy had been crushed!
A load dissatisfied grunt was heard from his opponent. Cedric made a mental loud cheering for himself. Take that! The only way of defeating the king Cedric took joy in nowadays. He still felt bad when he thought of the way he used to think… and that was the reason why he now and then let the king win this game… but not this time!
"You win Cedric! What an utmost perfect game this was!" Roland bowed to his sorcerer and gave his hand a good handshake to congratulate him to his win.
Before Cedric could excuse himself for the late hour the king rang his bell and told the servant that arrived to fetch the both of them some midnight snacks, even if midnight had long gone. He couldn't refuse the king now.
Merlin's mushrooms queen Miranda! What were you thinking going away like that in the evening?! What was so important that you had to leave him with me? He thought a bit worried. Had something happened with Sofia? But if it was something important they would probably have to come with her. But this made it even more nerve wrecking!
King Roland had sent Baileywick into Cedric's tower to fetch the sorcerer. Cedric had then went down with the old steward and gone into the kings own personal chambers. Cedric had been in there a couple of times during the years and knew that he had planned a game for the two of them to enjoy. One of the only ways of spending time with his king that he actually found to be enjoyable. And as usual it was all thanks to Sofia that had realized that the two men liked the same game and had made them play together.
The servant returned only after a few minutes and placed the tray filled with sandwiches and the warm spicy wine they both liked. Cedric took one of the cups. The only form of wine he drank. The boiling taking the alcohol away.
Winter was here. It wasn't cold in the palace, but you could still feel some of the cold hovering near and it made a bit of extra warmth more welcome. Cedric caught himself wonder if Sofia was cold or not up in that dreadfully cold place. He shook his head and looked down into the cup.
He carefully took a sip from it, not as too be scolded from the hot liquid. It tasted a bit strange compared to how it usually tasted. Maybe it was a new seasoning the chef tried. He thought and took another sip. Not bad. He decided to tell the chef he liked it.
"Ah! This was precisely what I needed!" Roland said and took a big bite from the sandwich. He chewed and gulped it down.
"It's a perfect way of enjoying the night now and then. I do hope though that it won't be too often that Miranda is away like this though… My bed would become a bit too empty for my tastes. But then again I will get more time to sleep of you know what I mean…" He chuckled and it got a bit louder when he saw the face Cedric was making. Cedric tried to ignore the images that went to his mind. He did NOT want to think of the king those types of situations!
"This is very rare indeed my king. May I be so bold as to ask why she's away like this? Has something happened with the princess Sofia?" He asked trying to make the topic change to less intimate things…
"You tell me Cedric. Miranda didn't say anything special before she left. Nothing more than that Sofia needed her mother for a bit. I thought that since you're closer to her maybe you should know."
Cedric brought the glass to his mouth making it the perfect excuse to hide his embarrassed face behind it. It did feel rather good that he thought that the two of them had better relations… but felt embarrassed about the nature of them.
"I do miss her Cedric! The castle has become a bit more glum with her gone don't you say? It's good that it's less than four months left before she comes home again."
"Erm… Yes your highness." Cedric tried to sound like normal. It felt fake. Keep calm and do not do anything stupid… he thought.
He saw how Roland took another big bite and he heard him sigh. The king wanted to say something more and Cedric waited for him to tell.
"But then again. When she does come home It will mean that it will be less time before my other baby girl gets married." He looked a bit glum. Cedric got confused. King Roland looked really happy most of the time when he was speaking about the wedding.
"I thought that you wanted Princess Amber to get married to Prince Hugo sire?" Cedric asked him unsure if the question was proper or not. He had learned a lot of social protocol during the years… but sometimes the familiarity from the royal family made that very hard to understand what was proper or not…
Roland looked at him and laughed.
"I sure do Cedric! I sure do! Amber loves Hugo and that's the safest way to get some grandchildren! How I long for some new kids to play with! But at the same time it means that she have grown up…" He sighed and suddenly felt a lot older.
"That's usually the way it goes sire…" Cedric tried to sound calming.
"You're right as usual. Well. Hopefully James will finally start to calm down too. But I very much doubt it. If I'm lucky Sofia will start to court a man too. Do you think that she's had any special suitor's in Letithia yet Cedric? " Cedric coughed. Drinking in the king's presence was not something he should be doing! It always ended like this…
"Don't you think she's too young to be thinking of courting just yet my king?…" Cedric managed to push out from beneath the breathing in and coughing.
"Where's your eyes Cedric! You can't have missed how beautiful she has grown to be! Almost as opulent as her mother are… Do not misjudge me, but I do know a beauty when I see one and Sofia will probably be the most passionate one of all my children…"
Cedric blushed and wished that he could disappear. How the heck where you supposed to answer something like that without sounding like a horse butt?! So he decided not to answer it and took a big gulp of the wine again. The king looked at Cedric and waited for the sorcerer to lower his glass, feeling tactical.
"Kids are the best and makes life worth living! Don't you feel it's time to get some kids yourself Cedric?" he couldn't help but laugh when he saw Cedric's shocked face.
"Wah… Erm… I… I've never…" Cedric sighed and took another mouthful of the warm wine trying to stall for some time. It was no use. Roland looked at him with a look that wanted an answer.
"It will probably not be a dream coming true for me…" Cedric said and sighed again.
"Don't be too sure of that! You're still rather young! And besides! Sorcerers are usually very long lived so that would make you even younger still! Your lineage can't be ending with you! A talent like yours should go on for ages more."
Cedric smiled a weak smile. He usually liked to get praise from his king but this time it was so very wrongly timed. He didn't say anything.
"Maybe that's the problem! You've been looking in the wrong places! Maybe the ones you've been looking at are too old!... Cedric?"
Once again Cedric had swallowed wrongly at Roland's words. Eating and drinking with the king would be his death!
"Tha- That's definitely not the problem she's…" Cedric wheezed. Crap. Why did he open his mouth?!
The king looked at the coughing sorcerer. He thought the words over in his head. That's not the problem. She… Oh! He got it!
"Are you saying that you have your eyes on someone already?!" The king sounded really excited and hit the table with his fist in excitement!
"Ah! Ehm… No… I mean… It's not… She's… Argh! Dunkin fungus!" Cedric felt really frustrated by his own rambling. The king would think he was mentally deficient… ok. Maybe he was thinking that long before that…
The king couldn't help but laugh.
"Ha ha ha… you look just like I did before I managed to propose to Miranda. It was the best thing that I ever did and I finally ended being the bumbling idiot… no offence intended… But everything felt perfect when I finally managed to make her mine…" Roland looked hopefully at the sorcerer.
"Impossible!" Cedric turned violet of embarrassment. If the king knew he wouldn't be saying those things…This was so wrong on so many levels…
"Nothing is impossible!... As long as she isn't married to anyone else that is…?" Roland realized the possibility and looked sternly at the younger man. Infidelity was something he never approved of.
Cedric looked horrified and shook his head and waved his hands in denial in front of himself.
"No! Heaven forbid! She's not even been…" Cedric gasped and put his hand in front of his mouth. Why the heck was he talking?! Stop talking! Maybe he could accidentally spell himself with a glued tongue spell… crap. His wand was in his tower…
"Does she love you back?" Roland got really curious of the new discovery. This was too good not to know more about!
"It can't be anything more than a crush. Someone so youn-…" Cedric didn't get to finish the sentence.
"Then what's the problem!? You have to be brave to be able to capture a maiden's heart and awaken the passion in her body! Have you even kissed her yet? Oh… you sly Cedric! You have! Tell me! Oh! I want to hear all the tasty bits…"
"No no no… I didn't mean to but the second time was…" Cedric panicked. Maybe he could end it all with jumping out from the window…? If he knew what he was suggesting that he should be doing with his daughter he would… Panic made his mind freeze over.
"Don't tell me you've done more than that?! This is the best!" Roland couldn't help it. Teasing Cedric was too much fun. Even more when realizing that the sorcerer had such tasty secrets…
"No! I wouldn't dare! She's too good for someone like me!" Cedric looked defeated. He would get beheaded for his transgressions…
"Cedric! Don't you ever let yourself down like that! For heaven's sake! You're a royal sorcerer! You could be choosing ANY woman that you like and as long as she love you back it should never be a problem…" Roland started to feel angry for the sake of his sorcerer. Rejecting his sorcerer made it feel like the woman was rejecting him or the whole of Enchancia…
Roland saw Cedric's hand's clench and unclench a couple times. He saw the sorcerer fighting an internal struggle within himself. He saw the face of a heartbroken man and he felt the pain.
"Don't you think that I would be with her if I could?! Yes! I've dreamt of kissing her and making her mine for real. She made me the happiest when she said she loved me, making me dream of us spending time in her garden… or of us; continue doing spells together… making me having dreams of me playing with our daughter's, having the same blue eyes and curly brown hair as their beautiful mother…" Cedric downed the rest of the content in the now lukewarm cup. He made a sigh telling Roland of the heart break he felt.
"But that will never be. Someone pure like her can never be with someone like me. I can't let her be the laughing stock when she can have someone better than me. Someone her family can approve of. Instead I will have to watch her grow away from me and then I will have to see how she falls in love with someone else, more suited for someone like her… and I will have to see their happiness for the rest of my life…"
Cedric stood up and brushed his robes a bit. He felt how his feet felt like led and he swayed a bit. Maybe it was his heart ache that made the room sway a bit… he bowed towards the king. Not able to take it anymore His win earlier had a bitter aftertaste. Without knowing it the king had helped him pour salt into his open wounds in his heart.
"I'm sorry my majesty. But may I ask to be able to withdraw for the… night."
Roland nodded and looked how the broken sorcerer left the king's private quarters.
The door closed and the king felt sorry for the sorcerer. He had been a bit too rude. He had to ask him forgiveness tomorrow… or rather today but in a couple of hours.
So Cedric had received a declaration of love from the woman that he loved. An unmarried woman… a bit younger, beautiful blue eyed brown haired woman with her own garden… that liked magic… with a family that thought she was above a sorcerers level…
And then it hit him. Everything became crystal clear.
He put the cups with shaking hands on the tray to make it easier for the servant to bring it back down while thinking. A teaspoon of rum had been enough to make the otherwise closemouthed sorcerer speak. Maybe it had been a bit rude to do something like that but she had told him to listen to Cedric.
He sat down feeling shaken.
"Oh… Miranda… now I understand what you've been trying to tell me…"
Man. He could be such an ass sometimes… Roland put his heavy head in his hand and he felt horrible until he realized that Cedric had confirmed that he had kissed her… twice…
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Oh my!
Poor Cedric! It can't be easy getting involved with such a strange and very nosy royal family. ;-)
So what do you think? Please tell me! I want to know!
I'm smiling when I think of what will happen next… I do hope I've made you want to know more!
Until next time!
Aasa