Jerrold twisted his fingers nervously in his doublet. He had followed Daria when he saw her go to the gardens, and he was just screwing up his nerve to ask her to the ball. His mother insisted they have one the next night, in honor of his birthday in a week's time, despite his father's absence. He couldn't stand the thought of putting up with another one of the social butterflies, and so he was determined to take Daria, as annoying as she was.

As he rounded the corner, he heard a giggle, and then a low voice, which made him pull up short. He peered around the tall hedge that separated the garden from the rest of the yard. He saw Daria sitting on their fountain (why did he think of it as theirs now?), and Sir Peter was standing beside her, whispering something into her ear. She laughed, and then said something back, but Jerrold couldn't hear it.

He felt sick all of a sudden, and turned quickly away from the sight before him. He didn't know why it affected him so, but he quickly made his way back to his study, his blood pounding enviously through his veins.

Daria hummed happily as she strolled in the gallery of the castle. She was quite content with her life at the moment, she decided. Sir Peter had asked for her permission to start courting her, and she had agreed.

It's true that it was nowhere near the feelings of love and passion that she thought should accompany courtship, but Sir Peter made her laugh, and she was happy enough with him.

She stopped a portrait of Jerrold, and stared up at it. It had been done almost a year previously, on his twentieth birthday. She gazed upon his handsome figure and sighed. If only…

Daria jumped as a hand came down upon her shoulder. She turned around and found herself looking into the dark eyes of the subject of the portrait that she had just been studying.

"Jerrold!" She laughed shakily, trying to inch away from the portrait so that he would not notice that she had been staring at it.

"Good afternoon Daria," Jerrold said pleasantly, smiling at her. "I was just coming with a question for you."

"Of course," Daria said brightly, "ask away!"

Jerrold took a deep breath and hurried before he could lose his nerve. "I was wondering if you'd care to accompany me to the ball?"

Daria's heart soared, and then plummeted all in the space of a second. "Oh Jerrold, I'm sorry," she said. "I already promised to go with someone else."

Jerrold's face showed his surprise, and then hardened. "Sir Peter?"

Daria nodded and looked at the floor. "He's courting me now, you know," she squeaked.

She looked up and Jerrold looked as if he might explode. "I was not aware of that development," he ground out through gritted teeth. "Thank you for the information!" He turned and stalked off.

"Jerrold!" Daria called as he reached the door. Jerrold stopped but did not turn around. "I'll save you a dance."

Jerrold inclined his head to show that he had indeed heard her, and then left the room.

Daria was so surprised she couldn't move. She bit her lip as she thought. She would love to be courted by Jerrold, she thought. She blushed at the thought, and her stomach did a little flip. But she was already being courted by Sir Peter.

She was in a bind.

Although, she told herself, the Prince does have quite a reputation of breaking the hearts of all the court's ladies. I'm sure that I'm better off without him.

If she told herself enough she might even start to believe it.

Jerrold sat in his father's throne, staring as Daria danced with Sir Peter, and then Lord Hartford, and then a whole string of noblemen. How had he never noticed how these men seemed to just appear in a line for the privilege of dancing with her?

In the past few days, he found that he couldn't stop thinking about Daria, her laugh, her intelligence, her beauty. She was so different from anyone that he had ever known, even Eleanor. He could not figure out what it was. Daria annoyed him so much, but for some reason that just made her more endearing. He liked the criticism, totally opposite to the way that women usually just fell over him with praise.

Jerrold could not seem to raise any enthusiasm about dancing with any of said women, currently fawning over him whenever he made a move, and so he had decided to simply sit and observe the ball.

Hadn't Daria promised him a dance though? He brightened as he straightened in his chair. He was after all the prince, and this was Sir Peter's third time dancing with Daria! He could simply cut in.

Jerrold rose from his chair, and was immediately surrounded by twelve perfumed and powdered ladies, batting their eyelashes and waving their fans at him. After managing to fight his way through their grasping clutches, he made it over to Daria and Peter.

"Excuse me," he said, tapping Peter on the shoulder, "may I cut in?"

Peter looked at him surprised, and even looked slightly affronted. But he was not too disappointed. His heart wasn't into this courtship, because he could not stop thinking about Eleanor. He missed her terribly, and was going to break his courtship with Daria, because it wasn't fair to any of them.

"Of course, your highness," he said, and with a bow, exited the dance floor.

Jerrold pulled Daria into his arms, and they began to dance. Disappointingly, it was a lively dance, and so Jerrold could not talk as intimately with Daria as he had intended.

"How are you this evening Daria?" he asked, as she spun towards him briefly before turning and circling back out.

"I'm well, thank you" Daria said as they circled each other. "And yourself?"

"I've been better," Jerrold replied, looking at her intently. "Daria, I have a problem, and I was wondering if you would mind helping me with it."

The dance ended abruptly and a waltz began. A younger gentleman of the court approached Daria meaningfully, but Jerrold pulled her into the new dance and glared at the young man, who turned and slunk off the dance floor.

"Of course," Daria said, frowning. "What is the matter?"

"I find myself thinking about a particular person, of the female persuasion, more and more frequently. It's becoming a constant distraction, and has started taking my mind away from my work at the most inconvenient times."

Daria felt her heart plummet. He was asking her advice about how to requite his love for another woman.

"Does this woman know how you feel about her?"

"We've had a few mild encounters, but I'm not sure my interest has been apparent to her."

"Well, I suggest that you start by telling her, and then work from there. You won't get your mind off this woman unless you come to some resolution about any future that you might have together."

Jerrold stopped dancing, and gazed straight into Daria's green eyes. She couldn't look away from his stare, and found herself trembling under it.

"Daria..."

"Have you resolved the gnomic and elvish conflict?" Daria mumbled, unsure of why she was suddenly so nervous.

Jerrold gave an exasperated snort. "Why do you always do this? I don't want to talk about gnomes, or elves, or ogres, or anything right now. Daria, I think that I'm falling in love with…"

Daria, suddenly desperate, blurted the first thing that came to her mind. "Sir Peter has started courting me!"

She could feel her face flaming after she said this.

"I'm quite aware of this fact," Jerrold ground out through his teeth. "You should be aware that he is soon to be relocated to Ayortha, to join the other ambassadors there to try and aid peace negotiations."

Daria stared open mouthed at Jerrold. "What!?"

"Since he is so close to Eleanor, he seemed the obvious choice," Jerrold continued calmly, pleased with himself to have found so economical a solution to all of his problems.

Daria seethed. She didn't know why she was so angry, but she couldn't help but be disappointed in Jerrold's actions. Not that she was considering Peter seriously as a partner. There was just no chemistry between them. But she felt that Jerrold had stooped pretty low, and resorted to sneaky measures to try and lower competition. She knew that she should be thrilled that he was courting her, but she couldn't help the anger that rose in her.

"You had no right!" she exclaimed, suddenly finding her voice.

"I had no right?! I'm acting king for the moment, remember? It was you who encouraged me to use this power to achieve my goals!"

"Yes, but you should not have stooped to this to get my attention! It's devious and underhand!"

Jerrold ran his hand through his hair impatiently. "So I got jealous and wanted to eliminate my competition, is that so bad?"

In the back of her mind, some thought begged to be heard. Shouldn't she be happy? Isn't this what she really wanted?

But she didn't listen to it. She pulled back her hand and slapped Jerrold across the face. Jerrold stared at her in shock.

"Would it help if I finished what I was saying earlier? Daria, I'm falling in love with you. And I know it was devious, and underhand. But you should know that all I can think about now is you. I want to be with you, and I can't stop picturing our lives together. And that thought fills me with such happiness that I can't envision what my life would be like without you."

Daria stared at him, feelings racing through her at such high speeds that she could not think.

Suddenly, the huge doors to the ballroom were thrown open. The orchestra abruptly halted the music, and the entire ballroom turned to face the ashen faced messenger that had just appeared through the door.

He staggered to the top of the stairs, out of breath. Jerrold took the steps two at a time to reach him. As the man caught his breath, he grasped Jerrold by the shoulders.

"Your father, King Harold of Kyrria is dead!"