Once upon a time, there was a beautiful princess,
She was young and naïve and unaware of the outside world,
Her life had been sheltered and miraculous,
But she felt slighted,
She always stood in the shadows,
For her beauty was undiscovered by the naked eye,

There was a young wizard who watched from afar,
He was rough around the edges,
To him life was never kind,
Until the day he was honored with meeting the fair maiden,

She was out in the courtyard as he was walking by,
In all of his normalcy,
But he decided that maybe he’d chance it and say hello,
What could it hurt?

Secretly, the princess was flattered,
But this informality mustn’t go unseen,
She turned quickly away,
Hiding her face,
And walked off without another word,

She could have sentenced him to death if she chose,
He later came to discover,
But instead she simply walked away,
And taken his heart along with her,

He’d made it a habit to walk by the courtyard,
Whenever he knew she’d be outside,
A routinely nod,
And eventually she’d learned to give a slight smile,

What he didn’t know was that he was gradually casting his spell,
Soon she couldn’t resist,
Every time his eyes met hers,
She couldn’t help but give him a small royal grin,

Curiosity overwhelmed the princess,
It was just part of his charm,
She needed to learn the dangers of the outside world,
But they would truly break her heart,

One day he walked by,
But this time was different,
He motioned her over,
And curiosity got the best of her,
So she went,

“I am Layne,” he introduced himself politely,
“I am a mere wizardly peasant,
Thank you for gracing me with your presence,”
She was used to royal treatment,
And ample compliments,
But something about him was different,

She nodded in acknowledgement,
“I am Princess Selena,
As I’m sure you may know,”

“All too well, your highness,”
He made an attempt to bow,
“I’m sure you hear this frequently,
But,
I’ve been watching you from afar for quite some time,
And you’ve stolen my heart,”

Admiration was indeed frequent,
But his sincerity had most won her over,
But she couldn’t let it show,

With reddened cheeks she nodded acceptingly,
Not sure what else to do,
But she did in fact know that she wanted to become friends,

She pushed a lock of her golden blonde hair behind her ear,
And looked into his deep brown eyes,
“Perhaps I should be sure to give it back,”
She inquired,
“Or earn it a more noble way,”

She gave him a smile that melted the darkness of his outer shell,
For somehow she was sweet and kind,
Despite her pretentious existence,

He shook his head gently,
And objected benevolently,
“I shan’t need it anyway,”

And with that he was off,
After a kind smile,
And somehow the princess was never the same again,

She’d decided inwardly that she must see him,
But in secret,
For no one else could know,
Perhaps just this one time,
Just to see what it was like,

Instead of her stroll through the courtyard the next day,
She sat under the big oak tree,
It sat just outside the castle gates,
The ones he would walk by,

From afar his heart sank,
She was not outside, so it seemed,
But the closer he came,
He then noticed her leaning against the tree,

He rushed over to her and lent her a hand,
“Her highness shouldn’t be sitting on the ground,”
He said,
Genuinely concerned for her welfare,

“I don’t really care,”
She shrugged,
The stubborn princess she was,
“Perhaps I find it comforting,”
She said pointedly,
Accepting his hand anyway,

With the static of a touch,
She knew from that moment,
That this was not a onetime occurrence,
That she must see him again,
And as time went by,
She met him secretly,
And he had won her heart,
But she knew they couldn’t be together,
For he wasn’t royal as she was,

The more time spent with him,
The less time at the castle,
And her lack of presence was becoming noticeable,
The queen enquired a guardsman to follow the princess,
To discover the cause of her frequent disappearances,

When the guard saw Layne he’d instinctively gasped,
The couple heard his sharp inhale,
And responded with alarmed expressions,

Layne gave the princess an apologetic look,
And off he went,
She watched him until he was no longer insight,
Then asked the guard not to breathe a word,

But he had to tell the queen what he had unearthed,
For it was his job,
And could not respect the wishes of the princess,

At first the queen was aghast,
But then she understood,
The princess must truly care for this peasant,
If she were willing to risk so much,

Thus the queen kept quiet and watched from afar,
Excusing any foreign behavior she may have picked up,
For she understood the outcomes of affection,
And was sympathetic to slight revolution,

But the queen thought this was only a phase,
And would eventually pass,
Unfortunately for the queen,
She was wrong,

For the princess had fallen in love,
And was falling deeper each day,
He was her only connection to a real life,
No matter how tragic it may be,

But not only was he real,
Layne had a heart of gold,
One perhaps not only royalty didn’t see,
But hardly anyone he’d ever come across,
But the princess saw through his scarred exterior,
An impressive trait she hadn’t known she possessed,
One that perhaps he’s subconsciously seen,
Even from afar,

He saw her true beauty,
Her true worth,
Not her lovely gray-blue eyes,
Or her crown,
And she knew,
She could feel it through his smile,

It was one night underneath the light of the moon,
Her eyes shined like stars,
And he couldn’t quite help himself any longer,
They sat closely together under the large oak tree,
He looked at her,
And she gazed back,
And before he realized what he’d done,
He’d met her soft pink lips,

He’d apologized profoundly,
But she didn’t care,
She watched him for a moment,
Then she kissed him,

For a moment he was surprised,
Shocked to silence,
She sat wordlessly,
Her cheeks tinted crimson,

“I love you,”
He whispered,
Knowing fully he was out of line,
“I love you, too,”
She murmured in return,
Hot tears filling her eyes,

They both knew they couldn’t be,
Maybe it was a waste of their time,
But it was too wonderful to be wasteful,
Too glorious to be a sin,

After some time,
They couldn’t hide it any longer,
Passion took place of common sense,
They had to show their love to the world,
No matter what the cost.

To their knowledge,
The king and queen would be the worst to confess to,
So perhaps that was where they would start,
The queen, of course, had already known,
But the king was unforgiving,

He stood firm and objected blatantly,
And the queen was surprised as well,
But king had called it mutiny,
Despite the tears in his daughter’s eyes,

The king could take away her thrown,
Her fortune,
Maybe even her repute,
But he could not take her love,
Nor could he her happiness,
Both of which subsisted in Layne,
She knew he was all she needed,

Eventually,
Discontentedly,
The king gave in,
Saying that he had no problem,
For they were not going to last,

But Layne had a different idea,

The night receding,
He’d asked her if she’d be his,
Always and forever,
She’d accepted,
And soon they were wed,

But not every story has a happy ending,
As one such as Layne knew all too well,
But sometimes you just get lucky,
When a wizard casts his unintentional spell…