There would always be a lone soul, a lover whose love ends up unreciprocated and a heart which yearns for that which it can not have. Rodric was many things but one thing he could never claim to be was the man who possessed what it required to sweep the princess off her feet.
He had watched her dance and clap and even persuade her father the king to join in her clapping and dancing as the duchess of Illyria sang, wishing he was capable of bringing such smiles to her face. He hadn't enjoyed the duchess' rendition as much as he thought he would, maybe this was because he had spent most of his time looking morosely at the excited princess.
His father, Elias sat close to him, with only his mother seated between them, he had insisted on sitting closest to his mother as he knew sitting with h
