Another chapter! I'm feeling nice so I'll release this one at the same time as the one before since I actually wrote it first to be only one chapter… but the words wouldn't stop so I went with the flow. ;-)

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!

Enjoy!

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Sofia had managed to calm down enough and where on her way back to the ballroom. Hopefully no one had missed her just yet.

She saw Baileywick in the corridor and how he was massaging his hand. He saw her and stopped what he was doing.

"There you are Princess Sofia. I was starting to wonder what had happened with you." He said and offered her his arm.

Sofia looked at him and the soft blush he had. Maybe he had been drinking a bit of the champagne that was flowing in the feast. She looked down at his hand and saw that it looked red.

"Have something happened to you hand Baileywick?" she asked concerned.

He moved so that she wouldn't see it and smiled.

"Nothing serious my dear princess. I did something that I haven't done in a very long time and I had forgotten how… hard it could be." He smiled and made her tag along.

Soon she was twirling around to the music again.

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Cedric felt carefully around his aching eye. He had done a form of cloaking spell to hide the swollen redness around it. It would probably look terrible tomorrow. He looked normal but he didn't feel normal. He glared at the dancing princess. He was not really mad at her, but she was one of the reasons why he felt this pain… He saw the culprit and felt even more sullen when the person looked like he was unaffected…

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.

… Cedric licked his fingers when he suddenly bumped into the castles steward. He nodded in acknowledgment, feeling no desire to talk to him right then.

He was just about to walk by the older man when he was suddenly stopped by a firm hand grabbing his arm.

"Cedric. I would want a word with you…" Baileywick said and started dragging the surprised sorcerer away in another direction than the ballroom. Cedric was dragged into the library. Now empty of all the usual library staff. They weren't needed on a night like this.

Cedric carefully closed the door and locked it. He looked troubled and it made the sorcerer a bit nervous. What was this all about?

Baileywick walked forward and stood in front of Cedric. He cleared his throat and corrected his glasses.

"I ask of forgiveness for what I now will do…" He said apologetically. Cedric had no time to react. The next thing he saw was the ceiling. What had happened? Cedric realized he was lying on the floor and he suddenly felt how his eye hurt. What…?

"Hey! Did you hit me?! You did, didn't you?! What was that for!" Cedric yelled and quickly stood up again. He looked at Baileywick angrily. Baileywick was shaking his hand feverously muttering to himself. Cedric realized that the old man had probably gotten a sprained wrist. That's for hitting me! He thought.

When he saw that Cedric was standing again he stopped and looked angrily at the man in front of him.

"Ouch! That hurt more than I remembered it would… I haven't done this is ages…" he said trying to compose himself.

"Why did you hit me Baileywick?!" Cedric was starting to get really pissed.

The steward just looked at him like he had asked the obvious. Cedric didn't see the obvious reason and that made him even more irritated.

"Because Cedric... I know what you did before this." Baileywick looked very uncomfortable.

Cedric froze. Uh oh…

"Wha… I don't know what you mean…" he stammered and blushed. He had always been a terrible liar.

"Do you know what could have happened if anyone else had gone by in corridor?! I don't understand why the king doesn't do anything, but I can't just stand still when you do something that could hurt Princess Sofia." The steward looked really angry but when he said that Cedric became even angrier.

"Do you think that I would want to hurt her?! Why do you think I'm trying to keep her away from me?! I could have done a lot more than I did but I did NOT do it as not to hurt her!" Cedric tried to keep the voice down, not succeeding. It was a good thing that everyone else was busy with the ball…

"Well. If you call that keeping away I don't want to think what you do when you keep someone close." Baileywick said and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Don't mock me Baileywick. You don't know…"

"I know that you're a coward." Baileywick gave Cedric a stern face making him look at the older man with shock.

"Excuse me?!"

"I said you're a coward. You don't dare to stop and see what is happening and it's making you the biggest coward of them all. And in the process of being such a jack ass you're hurting the one that loves you the most."

"Wait… did you know…?" Cedric looked confused. Wasn't he being yelled at because he had feelings for the princess? Was it only him or did Baileywick try to say that he should be doing things with Sofia? No, he probably misunderstood as usual.

Baileywick looked at him like he had said the most stupid thing in the world. Being one of the best sorcerer's in the known kingdoms could still mean that you had no brain…

"Please Cedric. I'm old but not senile. I've seen Sofia and how she acts. I've known for ages her feelings for you. I've also seen the way she changed you and your feelings for her…" he actually smiled a bit before returning the grim look in his face.

"But you're doing everything to make what you have disappear and crush her in the process…"

"But I can't love her! She's a princess! She should fall in love with a prince and not a lowly sorcerer as myself…" Cedric got quiet when he saw the man in front of him clench his fist once again. He did not want to receive another jab…

"Have you ever stopped and thought about what you condemn Sofia to Cedric?! A royal sorcerer outranks most princes' by far since not all of them can become king… And do you really think that Sofia would be better off with another man, forced to marry just because he's a king? Her heart has been yours since she was eight years old. I do not think that she will give it away to anyone else soon. Would you really want her to marry someone that she doesn't love? Do you really want to condemn her to a life like that?"

"But…" Cedric felt his hearth twitch.

"And don't you think you're being the cruelest person to teach her of what she almost had and how it feels being with the one she loves. Will it warm her any better when she's lying next to her future husband she doesn't love? If she would be with you she could still live here in the castle with everyone she loves… That's two reasons why he's also…" Baileywick coughed and told Cedric that he had wasted enough time with cowards. He left the sorcerer to himself.

Cedric had stood like frozen for a couple of minutes. What the heck was that?! That old steward actually said that he wanted Cedric to love Sofia! That must be the most absurd thing he had heard in his whole life!
He felt like he had missed something vital in the conversation but he didn't feel like going over the yelling in his head once again.

He had sat down in one of the big armchairs and had put is head in his hands but had yelled at the contact. He had forgotten the aching for a second. Damn! Had Baileywick been a boxer in his younger days or what?!

He had then put on the charm and gone out. He didn't want to think right now and he had hurriedly gone back to the ballroom, hoping that the festivities would help him keep the thoughts away.

And he confessed to himself that he wanted to see if Sofia would be able to come back to the ball and pretend like nothing had happened… he was the best as too be self-destructive and it felt like a good punishment for how he now felt…

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.

Cedric looked at her again feeling really sour. She really was a remarkable lady. She had managed to nestle herself into his heart and refused to let go.

No. He couldn't deny it anymore. He would slowly die if he had to see her in another man's arms and bed. But he couldn't ruin her either. She was fit to be a princess, not be reduced to being only a sorcerer's wife.
He wished that his heart would have stayed the hard cold stone that it had been before she had walked in to his life. Those who said that it was better to have loved and lost love than not have loved at all had never been in this state…

"Mr. Cedric…"

Cedric turned around when he felt a soft hand on his shoulder. He looked at the smiling queen. He bowed towards her.

"Queen Miranda. I'm sorry. I was too far in my thoughts that I didn't hear you at first. Please forgive me…" he said.

Miranda just smiled and nodded. She was holding her hand towards him.

"I'll forgive you if you dance with me." She said.

Cedric gulped. He had never liked dancing and tonight he had lost count of all the dances he had danced. He suddenly got nervous. He could dance with Sofia since he had practiced with her throughout the years. Not with anyone else. Miranda had always been nice to him but since he was scared that she would realize his feelings for her daughter he was always a rather big klutz in her presence…

He took her out to the dance floor and started to dance with her. It was an easy dance that played so he felt thankful. He only accidently stepped on her foot once in the starting sequence of the dance. The first time he had danced this dance with Sofia he had kicked her poor feet a couple of times…

The both of them looked in Sofia's direction when they heard the sound of laughter from her. Both of them then looked at each other smiling directly after.

"I must thank you once again Cedric for saving her life. Sofia told me everything about what happened in Letithia. I can't imagine how it would be here if she hadn't made it… Please Cedric. Please keep looking out for her…"

Cedric blushed. The queen should be happy that she had only heard a tiny bit of what had happened in the glazier in Letithia… if she knew she wouldn't be saying those things. And definitely not be dancing with him like this…

He nodded and wished that he could always be near Sofia… He really was the biggest masochist.

If only he could make her flee the castle with him. If she would quit being a princess of Enchancia… he knew it would be impossible and that she loved her family too much for doing that…

He just had to accept that he would die of an broken heart…

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Oh my! My fingers are on fire! When I started writing this I didn't realize that they would become two chapters! But then again you guys are probably happy. ;-) Double the fun reading!

What do you think? How many more hints does it take before Cedric actually gets the hint that EVERYONE knows about "his secret"…?
Please write and tell me.

I snickered quite a bit writing these two chapters and as usual it made everyone around me wonder if I was becoming crazy (or in some cases crazier.)

Until next time!

Aasa