At the other end of the castle a curly haired princess sat with her maid brushing her hair, 
"Your brother ma'am?" The hand maiden asked,
"I'm afraid so, I love him dearly, perhaps too much so."
"That will likely end when they find him a suitor, every little sister's first crush is their big brother."
"No...I feel its more than that...It's silly I know."
"I suppose so ma'am. Yet he is rather attractive with his jet black hair and pale eyes."
"Yes and it is not unknown for a king to marry off two siblings to keep the bloodline pure, especially in uncertain times."
"I suppose that is true ma'am" 
"Thank you Constance, now leave me." The hand maiden gave a dip of a bow and slipped out the room while the Princess sat alone with her thoughts, oh she knew it was stupid, ridiculous even to harbor such childish feelings for her brother. She'd always had mixed love and hatred for the boy but wasn't hatred just an extension of love? You couldn't hate someone you didn't love as it was such a powerful emotion. She brushed her curls one last time before using a ribbon to tie them neatly behind her and off her shoulders. She was a beautiful woman, everyone said so, with her milky white pale skin and her slender features, she was nicknamed 'the swan' among many of her suitors and yet the only person she really wanted to see her was her brother. When they were younger he had no friends and he always looked forward to her company, he bought her flowers and sang her poems he'd written, they we re never any good of course but they were hers none the less. He'd always been around when it was convenient for her and now they were older he'd spend less and less time with her, this year it was almost as if he had no time for her at all and when he was married he'd see her even less, it infuriated her, the very idea made her angry enough to scowl. 

Sometimes she wondered if it would be better if he were dead, she could grieve him then and get on with her life, find a man who would worship her like he had once and not think again on her silly crush. Only, she wasn't sure if her heart could take his death either, it was such a confusing feeling. So slipping on her robe and soft slippers she waited until all was quiet outside her door and quietly she slipped from her room and down the corridors, clasping a letter opener in her gowns pocket. 

____

The king paced his room while his doting wife sat in her gown and night clothes with her embroidery. The Steward sat at the table as the King paced, a mass of papers before him and a look of intense concern on his face as he watched the King.
"Darn it all, this is no good, no good at all!" The King stopped his pacing to glance to the Steward, "What about Helena, the daughter of King Harold?"
"Helena is betrothed, m'lord."
"Damn it. That boy has never been easy, what am I to do? I can not marry him off to just anyone, they will find out his secret in due course and then what?! Gods above this would be easier if he just died."
"Yes m'lord." The steward uttered, slightly nervous of the King's legendary temper. 
"Shut up! Oh if we could just get rid of him and marry his sister, she'd make a far better ruler too and we'd not have the issue of legitimacy from her."
"No mi'lord."
"Even if we sent that damned fool of a boy away though, the people would talk, they'd lose faith in us and god knows they are restless enough as is."
"True mi'lord. We need to select someone who we can trust to keep the boys hideous secret and not try and extort you for it."
"Oh but who outside of these four walls is that loyal?"
"That does seem to be the issue mi'lord."
"Evangeline."
"Your daughter mi'lord, what about her?"
"In the days of old, when the Prince's couldn't be found a suitable suitor the eldest youngest sister was married off to them...if Evangeline marries that boy, then the secret would be safe, she would never betray me, further the Kingdom will have the strong leader it deserves, her and we can slowly faze the boy out completely." It was the first time the Queen had looked up from her sewing and she looked mortified, her precious daughter married to -that- boy, it was an awful notion. 
"Mi'lord you can't possibly mean that!" The Steward was struck hard across the face with the back of the King's hand,
"Silence boy, respect your King. No, we can't do it right away, it'd look suspicious. We'll have him court the other women on the list, entertain them, then before the new year we shall announce that no suitable match has been made and we have, after much thought, decided the only way forward is to pair the Prince and Princess together. We'll make some speech about strengthening our lands first before trying to help other lands, make something up about making the people our first priority. They'll like that. It'll go smoothly as long as we play it right."

____

Evangeline had made it to the other side of the castle mostly unnoticed, the hour was drawing late but still some people milled about and so she was careful, if she was seen sneaking to see Alessandro there would surely be trouble but she had to see him. With all the gossip between her and her handmaiden her heart felt full of love that would only stop aching upon viewing her brother. Perhaps then she could figure out what her heart truly desired. 

Of course the further down the hall she got the less the idea appealed to her, at first it had seemed so romantic and innocent but now her mind was wrecked with paranoia's and worries, what if he was awake? What would she say? What if he was asleep? There were too many risks and yet she hadn't convinced herself to turn and leave. She hovered long enough to watch, with some dissatisfaction, as Alessandro's chamber boy loped into his room, it angered her to think a commoner could get to be so close to her brother, the boy did everything for him. After ten long minutes she crept from her place and slipped down to her brothers room, her hand hovering near the handle, she could hear nothing but the soft snores beyond the heavy door. For a moment she stood there and then with her oft slippers quietly sounding on the rug she fled back to her room, overcome with embarrassment and shame at her actions and her feelings. 

____

Alessandro had slept soundly, through both Rei's visit and his sisters and aside the two visitations the night was still, his boy came in to freshen his water and take away the dirty clothes and stoke the fire in the hearth. A metal basin was dropped and there was occasionally the barking of the dogs in the kennels but the night was still until the morning sun fell on his face as his boy busied abouth is room throwing back the shutters to let in the light and arranging the new clothes for the morning.