Darrek opened his eyes slowly while his fingers drummed out a rhythmic beat against the clipboard he held. “Is that all, Mr. Long?”

“No,” said the stuffy, old man in front of him, as he adjusted his spectacles and stared down at Darrek, with beady eyes. “Before the Prime Minister left on his trip, he informed me that you still had to review the new servant girls, who were just hired.”

“And why wasn’t this finished before Marcus left?”

“Most of it was. In fact, we narrowed it down to a small list, only eight pages long. You see, we had an extensive list of applicants suited to your specifications,” the man, know as Mr. Long --true to his name-- went on and on and on; right then Darrek just wanted to scream in anguish, but he had a better idea.

“Enough, Mr. Long,” he said in a princely manner, which shut the man up enough for him to continue. The Prince took the first sheet off the stack of eight while saying, “I will review only the first page.”

“But, your Highness--!”

“Surely someone such as yourself can handle a few, slight… interviews! I mean, all you do is make a note here, dot an ‘I’ there, maybe even cross a ‘t.’”

“But a man, such as myself, merits greater responsibility--”

“Such nonsense! You would do the country a great service by taking this task. Like you said, only a man such as yourself should take such responsibility.”

“A-are you sure, milord?”

“Positive, this is a task suited for you,” Darrek said as he looked through the stack once more, for the page with the least amount of names on it, and then swapping it with the one he held.

“Well…If you think so, your Highness; I humbly accept this task,” he said graciously, as if the Prince had done him some great favor, and bowed low.

Darrek watched him leave as he whispered under his breath, “Finally.”

“Darrek, love? Where have you been? I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” came the voice of Dannira.

“Uh, sorry. I just had to take care of something.” he said as he turned to see her striding towards him.

“Well, lucky for you, I have the whole afternoon off. What would you like to do?” she asked as she walked up to him and fluffed out her riding habit.

“Well, since you’re already dressed for it, shall we go riding?” he asked as he looked over her appearance and realized he was overly dressed for the venture in his formal attire.

“Excellent! That sounds perfect, deary,” Dannira said as she took his arm and pulled it into a tight hug.

“But we’ll have to cut the visit short. Business, I’m afraid,” Darrek said as he smoothed out his jacket, once she had released him.

“What? But we barely spend time together!” she pouted, lip and all.

“I know; I know. But I can’t put this off. One page of interviews, for half a day, is the least I could do for Marcus.”

Dannira gave him a quick peck on the cheek, “You’re just too cute! Marcus is lucky… and everyone else who gets to see you every day.”

 

---

 

“So your name is Linda, correct?” Darrek spoke in slow, deliberate tones but it just didn’t seem to be getting through.

The maid, “Linda,” just sat right across from him with a blank expression, shaking her head at everything he said, even when he asked her what time it was.

“It’s 6:30,” came Ivan’s faithful reply.

“Thank you, Ivan,” the Prince sighed as he massaged his temples and watched the girl shake her head again. “Do you speak English?” She shook her head.

“Do you think Ivan is cute?” she shook her head again.

“Sir!” Ivan objected.

“What!? I was just making sure!” Darrek defended himself as he motioned Ivan to usher her out. He shut his eyes as he moaned, “I don’t want to have another interview. I quit.”

“But, Darrek, you have one more girl left! Just finish the job you set out to do and I promise, on my life, that if she has a unibrow or any other disfiguring, vile, and/ or grotesque thing wrong with her I will send her away.”

Darrek rolled his eyes at him before calling out loud, without moving, “Next!”

In walked a petite, young woman with a soft smile and brown eyes, like a dove’s. She smoothed down her brown hair nervously as she walked past the Prince and sat down in front of him.

Ivan leaned in close and whispered, “Does she have a unibrow?” which she most certainly did not.

In fact she was quite plain, this surprised Darrek, but there was something about her, her plainness that was attractive. “Let’s start with your name,” the Prince said as he looked into her big eyes.

“It’s Marie, sir,” she said in an adorable voice that nearly caught at his heartstrings.

Darrek repeated it, “Marie…”

 

---

 

“If we don’t leave now we’ll miss the sunset!” Dannira huffed.

“But there are preparations to take care of. This is so short notice and the picnic--”

Dannira cut the Prince off as she flounced her sheik, black curls. “It’s all taken care of, love. I have one of those servant girls handling it right now.”

“Servant girl?”

“Ah, yes. I think she said her name was Marie, or something.” The Prince bristled as Dannira continued, “She’ll be accompanying us, along with Ivan, is that alright?”

“What did you say, Dannira?”

“I asked if it was alright; are you okay?”

“Oh, yes; I suppose.” Darrek mumbled as loosened his tie. He didn’t know why, but for some reason this Marie-person made him very uncomfortable-- hot under the collar.

 

---

 

Darrek fidgeted as Marie handed him a jar, with the smile that always caught his attention. “Uh, what’s this for?” Ivan asked as she handed him one as well.

“To catch the fireflies, of course!” she said as they continued to look at the sunset.

The sun had nearly disappeared beneath the horizon, to cast a slight glow over the edge of the world, and slowly dusk was creeping in. Just as Marie had said, soon the fireflies came out to play.
They danced on the wind, shining like little, twinkling lights, and almost instantly the company was enraptured with them. It was as if Marie, herself, had put a spell on them.

Darrek watched with wonder as one of the bugs flew by his face when a shriek surprised him, “Quick! Catch it! Catch it!” Marie yelled as she hopped up, the look of a hunter flashed in her eyes.

Soon the whole party, even Dannira, were stomping off to begin the adventure.

From what Darrek could tell Marie and Ivan were the veterans at this and soon it became a game of who could collect the most.

Up and down the meadow Ivan flew, like a madman, and with a quick step and sleight hand he nabbed quite a few; but Marie was very skilled in her own way. She would sneak up on the flickering bugs with a stealth that rivaled a ninja, or corner her prey and have them fly straight into her jar.

Darrek tried to catch them but he always seemed to miss, “I’m never going to hear the end of it from Ivan if I go home without catching one.”

“Ah, Prince, there!” Marie called as she skipped through the tall grass, to him, “Don’t move.” she instructed as a single firefly landed on his chest.

In just a moment Marie caught it beneath her palm; Darrek’s heart skipped a beat; her touch was doing strange things to him.

“S-sorry.” he heard her stutter as she pulled her hand away. The firefly was nowhere to be seen. “I guess it got away at the last second.”

“Marie…” She had put a spell on him.

 

---

 

“So you‘re only fifteen?!” Darrek asked incredulously.

“Fifteen and a half, which means I‘m almost 16!” Marie replied as she opened her jar from the previous night to release her captives.

“But your résumé--!”

“Oh that. I lied, so I could get the job… and I thought that if I were almost sixteen it would be alright to keep it a secret until I was actually old enough.”

“Then why did you tell me? I could easily have you fired--”

“I didn’t want to lie to you anymore.” she said as she smiled.
“But why did you lie in the first place?” he asked as she watched her pace nervously.

“I had made a promise to my mother before she died.” she whispered.

“A promise?” Darrek asked as he looked at her sad face.

“Yes. A promise that I would make it on my own and find a place where I belong.”

“You couldn’t stay with your family…?” Darrek asked as he wondered of the look in her eyes.

“I could but Father is so frail and I live in a family of five… I couldn’t bare to weigh them down, and, plus, I thought I was old enough…” she said as Darrek heard a sniff and saw a tear drop onto her apron, staining it with sadness.

“Marie,” he pulled her into a hug, “Don’t worry. I won’t fire you; just don’t lie about anything else.”

“I-I’m sorry, sir.” Her words caught at his heart. Why did she make it throb so?

 

---

 

“You’re breaking up with me?” Darrek asked incredulously as he blinked. That had been the exact reason he had called Dannira to him.

“I’ve been thinking this awhile and…” she paused, “I don’t think you really love me and it’s been that way for a time. I think we should, how do you say it? ‘See other people.’”

“Dannira--?” he called as she turned and he thought he saw a tear slide down her cheek. He reached for her but she jerked away.

“Don’t touch me! I can see you know; I know how you look at her!” she yelled as she wiped at her eyes.

“Her…?”

“You know who I mean! Marie! You love her, don’t you?!”

“I love her…?”

 

---

 

“Are you sure it will be alright? I mean, you and Lady Dannira leaving on such bad terms…Shouldn’t you make up?” Marie asked with worry as she began to peel an apple that Darrek had been fingering for awhile.

“We broke up.” he stated, not really speaking directly to her. “And what’s there to apologize for?”

“But my Prince--!” suddenly she was pulled abruptly away from her task.

“What am I to you, Marie?” Darrek asked as he gazed intently into her eyes. Ever since Dannira had mentioned it, he had had this strange fancy that he actually was in love, in love with her.

“D-Darrek…” she averted her eyes. “You are the Prince.”

“But you said my name first, without even pausing,” he whispered as he took her chin in his hand and turned her to face him.

Their mouths met in a kiss. It was a confirmation, of both their feelings.

 

---

 

“Are you sure it’s alright? I mean,” Marie said flustered; her cheeks were flushed as she approached the Prince, ready to mount his horse. “I mean, isn’t there a sickness going around? Several people have already died from it.”

Darrek leaned over and kissed her cheek, “Relax, I’ll be fine. I’ll just avoid anyone who’s sick.”

“But I heard that the sickness lays dormant for a time and then--”

Darrek silenced her with a kiss, “It’s okay, love.” he kissed her again, this time to stop her trembling, “I have a question before I go.”

“What?” she asked as she looked into his eyes.

“Have you found the ‘place where you belong’ yet?” he smiled., so did she.

“I’ll tell you my answer when you get back.”

He pulled her into a hug, “Deal,” he whispered into her hair.

 

---

 

“D-Darrek! Oh please, wake up!” Marie cried over the pallid figure of her Prince.

At the sound of her weeping his eyes fluttered open, “Marie?” he called in a hoarse whisper, but a smile was on his lips. He felt tears fall onto his hot face.

“Why…are you crying…?”

“Stupid! It’s because of you; you said you wouldn’t get sick!”

“I’m fine. N-now that you’re here.” he said as he lifted a shaking hand to wipe off her face.

“Stop talking like that!” she sniffed as she feigned a strong smile, “You’re not a Prince in a fairytale, you know!”

He shut his eyes, after it had registered that his father was there too. “Do you have my answer yet?”

She smiled, that beloved smile, as she laid her face in his palm, “Yes, right here. I won’t ever leave your side.”

---

 

"'I won't ever leave your side.'"

Darrek’s eyes slowly opened; he was clutching a cold, lifeless hand. “Marie?!” he yelled as he sat up. He looked into her face and realized that the memory was just that, a memory. “You said you would never leave my side!” he yelled in hysteria as he clutched the corpse’s frail shoulders.

“Prince, get a hold of yourself,” but the servant’s pleas fell on deaf ears.

He shook her body. “You lied...! You lied!” he screamed as tears came to his listless eyes and began to pour forth, falling on her serene face. Even in death she had a smile. “Why are you smiling like that…!? I hate you!”

He slapped her face, “I hope you go to hell!” he cried; he yelled.

“Someone get him off of her!” someone yelled in the background but barely anything registered anymore. His world had died with that girl.

“You were suppose to stay with me forever! Y-you were suppose--” his voice choked as he pulled her into his arms and when a servant tried to pull the two apart he lashed out.

If it would have been permitted her would have stayed there, just like that, forever.

---

“Her name was Marie? And you say she was the Prince’s lover?” asked a woman behind a funeral veil.

“Hush, her he comes.”

Down the aisle walked a Prince,  in a completely black ensemble,  with a face that appeared as if it were carved out of stone. He walked stiffly but his expression gave nothing away about the state of his heart.

“Is that him? Is he alright?”

“I’m fine,” he said as he inclined his head toward the two women. But his voice came out in a monotonous stream, cold like ice. He continued to the coffin where she lay.

He stopped to look at her face, not even his eyes flinched as he drew her cold hand into his and placed a ring upon her finger. “This is yours, if I remember correctly. I…promised it to you.” he said as he stroked, with reverent movements, the bruise he had left on her face.

From afar a young boy looked at the spectacle, “He’s like an ‘ice Prince…’”

Ivan, who was standing nearby, looked at the boy, “That he is.”

The magic was gone.