"Who are you and what are you doing here?" The guard asks, pointing his sword at the stranger.
"I am just a traveler asking for shelter from the storm, I will be thankful to even just have a place a place in your stable."
As the guard starts to answer the young man, a voice calls out behind him, "no guest of the palace will sleep in the stable like a horse, you can sleep in one of the empty rooms."
The young man looks up at the source of the voice and as their eyes meet, they smile at each other.
**********
"Did you sleep well?"
"To be honest, no. There felt like there was a huge rock under my mattress."
When his host doesn't answer, the young traveler looks up at him with confusion written on his face.
"Who are you and where are you from?"
"I told you, I am just a traveler."
"Try again. You are a prince."
"How did you know?"
"Before my mother died, she told me that a true prince or princess could not sleep on a mattress with so much as a pea under it because it would feel like they were sleeping on a rock. So, where are you from?"
The young man takes a deep breath and says, "I was prince Alexander of idris."
"Was?"
"When I refused to marry princess Lydia so out two countries could become one, my father threw banished me from the country."
"Why didn't you want to marry princess Lydia, I hear she is beautiful."
A slight blush appears on his cheeks as he says, "I would rather marry you."
Magnus smiles and says, "That most defenently can be arranged."
