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eight years old

Cedric generally had trouble sleeping. There was a rarely a night that passed that didn't find him watching the sun bring the sky from the inky dark of midnight to the pale pastels of dawn. This night was no different but Cedric had found his feet to be restless. So he slid his book into his robe pocket and left his tower. He took a long, slow path through the empty hallways of the castle.

The lights were dimmed and it was pleasantly quiet. It brought Cedric back to his childhood when the castle only felt safe after its inhabitants had gone to bed. The night was the one time he was safe from judgement; from his father, his educators, the royal family. It reminded him that it wasn't this place that he hated; it was the people within it. This place needed change, change that only he could bring. And finally, the means were available to him. The Amulet of Avalor was finally out of hiding. All that stood in his way was eight year old girl.

Literally.

"Mr. Ceedric?" Princess Sofia asked, pronouncing his name incorrectly. Again.

"It's 'said-rick,'" he phonetically corrected her, immediately impatient. Her presence was a mar on his evening, a black spot against his fantasies for power and change. But then again, she wearing what would be his. The Amulet of Avalor flashed it's stunning purple light in his direction from around the girl's neck and Cedric felt a tension leave his shoulders.

"What are you doing up so late," she asked, her sickeningly sweet voice echoing softly in the empty hall.

"I should be asking you the same, child. Shouldn't you be in bed?"

The Princess blushed and dropped her eyes down to the floor, looking chastised. She muttered something under her breath that Cedric couldn't make out. He sighed heavily, crossing his arms.

"Speak up," he instructed.

Wringing her hands together, she peered up at and spoke in a voice so quiet he could barely hear her. "I've never slept in my own bed, all alone."

Cedric furrowed his brow. "What do you mean?"

"We just had one bed, me and my mom. I-I...it's just so quiet without her…"

"You didn't have your own room? Your own bed?" Cedric didn't notice the harsh tone slip out of his voice. He knew peasants lived very different lives, but he had never put much thought into it.

Sofia shook her head, her blush now spread across most of her face.

They stood there in an uncomfortable silence for at least a minute.

"Books," Cedric finally said. Sofia peered back up at him and he was horrified to see a tear leak out of the child's eye. He cleared his throat and looked anywhere but at the little Princess. "I find reading can...help. With restless nights. The stories can take you away, calm your mind."

She sniffled and wiped away the fallen tear as she nodded. And then nightgown clad arms wrapped around him and his body stiffened uncomfortably before he peeled himself out of the girl's embrace.

"Yes, well…" he brushed his robes, though they weren't out of place. "To bed with you."

Sofia beamed up at him. "Thank you, Mr. Ceedric."

She was down the hall before he could correct her mispronunciation again. Cedric coughed and straightened his robes again and started walking in the opposite direction of the Princess. All the while, he mentally assured himself over and over again that this exchange was nothing more than a building of trust so he could manipulate the Princess out of the Amulet at a later time. It certainly wasn't a silver of true kindness, not from him.