Passion for a Prince
Chapter 3

By: Silent Moon

Mail: silentmoonstar@yahoo.com

Rated: PG 13 (some chapters may be R)

Disclaimer: standard


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But then he rose, brilliant as the moon in full
And sank in the burrows of my keep

And all my armour falling down, in a pile at my feet
And my winter giving way to warm, as I'm singing him to sleep
Fiona Apple

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When Sere awoke the next morning, the Prince was gone. But breakfast was left waiting,
along with a new cotton dress to replace the one tattered from her whipping.

She dressed quickly and hurried to the kitchen. She rushed over to Molly and clasped the
young woman's hands.

"Sere!" Molly exclaimed.

"Molly, you must tell me all you know about Prince Endymion." She breathed.

Molly smiled, "You were pleasantly surprised I take it?" she said dryly.

Sere smiled, "He is so gentle and mild....nothing like his father and brother. I do
not understand..??"

Molly sighed, "Come, I'll tell you all I know about him while we work."

And so Molly did. She spoke of the tender Queen whose character he mirrored. Endymion
adored her and was crushed by her sudden death when he was six. And though his cruel father
and brother became the sole influence on him after that, he remained the same.

She told of how he helped the servants and cared for them....the salve and shoes and
medical supplies he provided....how he rarely left the castle however, to see his people...as
though he could not bear their suffering as well.

"He keeps to the castle? Has he always?"

"No." Molly replied, "When he was young he often journeyed out to see his father's Kingdom,
but he could not bear to see anyone poor or unhappy and begged his father to help those
in need....his father refused. He does as much as he can....it's strange, his father never
forbids him from doing anything....but he refused to do the things he asked as a boy."

Sere thought this over a moment.

Molly giggled, "Once, when he was a boy, he gathered all the whips in the castle and set them
on fire in the courtyard. He couldn't stand to see anyone hurt. His father was furious.
But he said nothing. Just replaced them all."

"He is truly a wonderful, gentle man." Molly added.

Sere arched an eyebrow, "If he is so great a man, why does he not challenge for the
throne and rule his people?"

Molly shook her head, "I do not know. He has many great qualities, but there is one he
lacks."

"And what is that?"

"Passion."

Sere thought of the strange light that had flickered through his eyes briefly the previous
night when she had lain on the bed before him and started. She tried to push that
expression from her mind.

"He did not take me for his mistress." She confided to Molly.

"I am not surprised." She replied, shocking Sere terribly.

"Why ever not?"

Molly smiled again, "Why, he barely knows you! He is so shy in some ways, especially with
women. He wouldn't have the nerve to take you! And he would not either, on principle, he
believes it should be a choice, that a woman should own her body."

Sere was quite impressed with this logic. She remembered a conversation with her father
where she had argued this point, and he hadn't agreed with her. It had stung her terribly.
But such were the times. Her father had been raised to believe unjust things about
the fairer sex.

She turned curious eyes on Molly, "Has he ever taken a Mistress before?"

Molly blushed a little, "Yes..."

Sere's eyes widened, "...you?" She asked softly.

Molly nodded, "It was a long time ago!" She exclaimed before Sere could speak,
"He was young and...we have always been friends...."

"Well, was he....cruel or horrid like his brother?" She asked, though she already knew the
reply.

"No no, he was wonderful...kind and gentle....just as he is in nature."

Sere felt a strange feeling bite at her as she asked the next question but brushed it
mercilessly aside, "Are you in love with each other?" She asked seriously.

Molly laughed, "Goodness no! We are great friends though! We've grown up together here.
But as I said to you before....he has never been truly passionate about anything."

Sere nodded, "And without that, he cannot rule a Kingdom."

"Exactly." Replied Molly, "But I've begun to fear passion can only be cruel...for I see
it in his father and brother."

But Sere shook her head firmly, "I have known great and passionate people in my life.
My father, my mother--"

"And yourself." Molly smiled, "Perhaps you can lend him some of your passion and spirit."
She winked.

Sere's face changed to shock, "Molly!" Her wide eyes stared at the now giggling Molly.

"He's terribly handsome Sere....and you are extremely beautiful......"

"Molly, stop this nonsense at once!" Sere commanded blushing violently.

Molly turned back to her dough obligingly but said softly, "Your blush reveals it has
crossed your mind."

Sere choked a bit at that.



Endymion found them in the kitchen that afternoon, singing as Sere had revealed to him
the night before.

Molly and Sere's voices stood out above the rest, as they were young. He stood in the shadows
of the doorway listening for some time. They both sang beautifully, but there was a haunting
quality to Sere's voice that made everyone listen to her.

As they finished Molly turned to her, "You have such a lovely voice! You must have taken
lessons as a girl!"

"I did." Confessed Sere, "And thank you."

Endymion smiled and stepped up behind them, "Ladies.." He startled them both and they swung
round to meet his gaze.

Sere caught her breath again, how could someone so mild be so tall? It was positively
unnatural.

"I must steal Sere away this afternoon, there is somewhere I should like to take her."

Molly smiled, "I believe I can spare her."

Endymion smiled softly back, "Thanks."

He took Sere gently by the arm, "This way..."

Sere glanced wildly from the wickedly winking Molly to the pale Endymion as he led her away.
As they stole through the servant's hallways her voice was soft on instinct when she
asked, "Where are we going?"

He led her out a passageway to a carriage that was waiting, he lifted her in and climbed in
after then handed her a basket of roses.

"You will see." He said gently.

They drove in silence a while until she spotted the book in his lap he'd prepared to read
on the journey.
She recognized it immediately.

"Why, I've read that dozens of times!" She exclaimed suddenly pointing.

He jumped but then held up the book, "Really?"

"Have you read it before?"

He nodded smiling carefully. She would reflect later that he it was rare to startle
a smile onto his face.

They chatted of books for the rest of the ride, till they pulled up a familiar rode in the
light rain that was falling. She froze suddenly as she glanced out the window, her smile
disappearing.

"This is...."

"Your home." He replied.

She looked back questioningly.

He pulled the roses back into her lap, "I wanted to give you the chance...to bury your dead."

Her eyes filled up so quickly his heart grabbed in his chest.

The carriage pulled to a stop and he helped her out then left her to her empty manor.
The beautiful gold fields behind the empty stone house.....

She disappeared inside and came out some time later to bend and leave two roses on the
doorstep. She left the basket by the fence before the field and then sank to her knees,
face in her hands.

Endymion hurried over and gathered her up, though she tried to push him away,
"Leave me....leave me...I do not wish you to...see me this way...."

But he held her close in spite of her words, "I am so sorry this happened." He said
truthfully and it made her cry harder.

But she collected herself and pulled back to face him, "Thank you." She managed in a shaky
voice, "Thank you for letting me say goodbye."

And as the carriage pulled away again she leaned out the window one last time and
whispered to the wind, "Goodbye."

Then she settled back and fell asleep, her head drifting over to his shoulder as he read,
trying to distract himself from the injustice of her pain....as well as the delightful
sensation of her golden head against his shoulder.

She awoke as they approached the castle at nightfall and looked up to see his tired, nearly
haunted face still reading.

She sat up quickly, "My apologies for....for..."

But he raised his eyebrows at her, "For what?"

She smiled a little at him but then he caught her hand and looked earnestly at her,
"If I could set you free I would."

She looked startled.

"If I could have left you to your home, I would have. My father forbids me to free
the servants."

He looked down, fists clenched, voice bitter, "I do what I can."

She watched him a moment then leaned across and squeezed his hand,
"Thank you."

He looked up to see the gratitude in her eyes, mild like his own compassion and something
snapped within him.

He was angry.
Angry he had to bring her back. Angry that she was adjusting to servitude--she shouldn't
be grateful to him!

Something sat badly with him about this girl. She stirred something in him.

Her willfullness and spirit had touched some part of him unused for a long time.
As for her beauty...he thought of the previous night and shivered...could he ever forget?

He had never wanted anything so badly that he became blind to the wants of those around
him....but the sight of her had erased every last trace of empathy for a moment and
replaced it with something else.

He'd burned with the first urge to take he had ever known.

He struggled to push all these thoughts back as the carriage arrived and he hurried her
away to his room.

But once the door was closed and the warm firelight was dancing on her skin and hair
he couldn't help but catch his breath.

She turned then and approached him slowly as he stood frozen in place. She took his hands
and leaned up to kiss his cheek gently, a warm look in her eyes.

He was too shaken to blush but remained pale as she backed off tiptoes and said so
sweetly, "You're a good man."

And those words shook him more than any ever had.
Oh what an awesome load of responsibilties suddenly came from those words! He'd never felt
burdened by his virtues until that moment....uttered by so beautiful a woman--one that he
admired.

The suffocating weight of his people's suffering returned and clenched his heart so swiftly
he nearly dropped to his knees. The helplessness.....the horror of it all.....and he, so
powerless shamed to change any of it.

He remembered her futile struggle upon arriving.....she had faced the two members of his
family, the two most cruel, powerful men in the kingdom with contempt.....but most
importantly, without fear.

It was something he himself could not do. But why?
She had been fearless because she was so careless with grief, so angry with desolation.
He had neither......he hung his head in shame at his own feeling of being incomplete.

He went through the motions of readying for bed and climbed in next to her.....but he
lay awake long hours burning with emotions too strong too name.

And as if she could sense it Sere awoke and turned to find him staring at the high, stone
ceiling.

She could feel his unease and knew somehow, that it was unfamiliar for him. She moved
closer till she could lay her head against his shoulder and found his hand beneath the
covers to lace her fingers through his.

"Sleep." She commanded softly.

And he obeyed.
Allowed the warmth of her to sooth him as his eyes drifted closed.

There it was. The mystery of the universe solved. How a man could face all the trouble's
of the world without losing his mind. How he could fight against such obstacles as the
corruption in his own powerful family and still sleep at night.

It was her.

Such a sweet soft secret. This beautiful creature with one touch could relieve all the
struggles of his heart.

He listened to her breathing soften and become reguler again and then leaned his head
down to rest against hers.

He knew, in the darkness of night, with the truth bare and vulnerable, that he loved
her......but there was something else....something even more than love that stirred in
his heart....
What it was he could not name.

But he knew by instinct it could not be erased from him.
Could not be washed away now that it was begun. It was lit, awakened, invoked
and burned like the fire of his existence.
And after having lain still for so long, awakened so suddenly, in such a dark place, it
burned very bright.

Passion.

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