The Silver Prince

Once upon a time, in a far away kingdom, there lived a young prince. He had everything his heart desired, except for one thing.

One cold winter's night, an old beggar woman came to the castle. She offered him a single rose in return for shelter from the bitter cold. Without a second thought, he welcomed her in and gave her one of his best rooms. Confused by his warmth and acceptance, she held true to her promise and gave him her rose.

After his attendants had taken her to her room and gave her warm clothes to sleep in, the prince came to her room. He had many questions about that rose. It was the red of blood, the green of emerald, and was as soft as satin. But what amazed him the most was that the rose had a shine of silver to it and bright sparks of silver would fall from it when it was moved.

He asked her what sort of enchantment was placed upon it. She responded only by placing one finger to her lips and making a hushing sound. Then she turned and fell asleep instantly without a sound. The prince stood there in awe of his gift from her. He agreed that he would question her again in the morning and went to his room. After changing and placing the rose beside him on the table, the prince too fell asleep

Then, it happened. The rose began to bloom. One petal at a time would open and take its position. As each one moved, more and more silver fell on to the table and a bright light began to shine. In time, the entire room was filled with a silver glow, yet the prince never stirred, not once. Then came sounds of innocent laughter and joy, followed by such beautiful songs and voices. Something was happening because of the blooming rose.

The prince never once stirred, but the attendants and servants began to wake one by one to the noises. They became enchanted by the beautiful songs that they had to follow them to the source. One by one, they gathered around the prince's door and had to cover their eyes from the silver light that was seeping through the cracks from the door.
By now, the prince's advisor had joined the audience to the door. Growing more and more cautious for the prince's safety, he ordered the door to be broken down. As the guards came, they struck the door with all their might. No keys worked and no amount of force budged the door.

Even with all this, the prince never once stirred.

Growing more nervous and worried, the advisor ordered guards sent to the woman's room. As they came to her door, they came to learn that it was locked and was as unmovable as the prince's door. Entering a panic, the adviser was at a loss of what to do.

Then the clock struck midnight. With each passing toll of the bells, the lights dimmed and the songs grew more and more quiet. Silence had fallen on the castle like a veil. The only sound heard to the castle's tenants was a heart beat

To this very day, it is unknown if it was their own heart beats, or someone else's. It was said that heart beat was heard around the world as time stood still.

Not one person moved, they had no idea what was going on. But as quickly as they had all arisen from their sleep, they began to feel such a strong power over them that they fell asleep where they stood, slowly moving to the floor upon which they stood.

Silence.

Everyone in the castle was sound asleep and did not stir once.

As dawn arrived, each member of the castle staff awoke in their own bed, not in their place on the floors. The last to wake was the advisor. He rushed to the prince's room to see what had happened. Most of the tenants remembered the night's events and followed.

The door again did not move.

The beating of hands seemed to wake the heart beat again. It echoed through the halls and never once skipped a beat.
The prince was still in his bed, untouched, unmoved, and unaffected by the sounds. His room was lined in silver sparks and pieces. Almost as if a wind had entered the room, the silver moved and formed a hand moving closer and closer to the prince. The hand reached his face and gave one cheek a soft caress. Feeling this, the prince's eyes opened as the silver vanished.

When he sat up, he looked around to see such beautiful patterns of silver across his bed and his room. As he looked around, he saw the rose. It was in full bloom and looked as if the petals were ruby and the stem and leaves were emerald. As he picked up the rose, he smelt it and never before had he smelt such a beautiful scent.

After this, he door opened and his advisor rushed in to see to his health. The prince got up and asked the advisor of the old woman. Almost knowingly, they both turned and headed to her room, with the rest of the staff following behind. As they reached her room, he reached for the door knob, but before his fingers touched, the door opened.

To their eye's disbelief, there was no sign that this room had ever been entered in at least a month or two. Before the prince was able to even take a breath to ask his advisor about the old woman, there was a knock heard on the castle door.

Heading down the steps, they heard a knock again. The prince waved the guard off and answered the door himself.
There was nothing, not even the night's events that could have prepared them for what was waiting on the other side of the door. In all their years, they have never understood how this even came to be.

As the prince's eyes adjusted, he saw a man. This man was roughly the same age as he was, well tailored, and well groomed. But what struck him with the most intrigue was that he felt he knew him.

The prince was speechless in awe of the beauty and familiarity of the man that stood before him that not a sound came from his mouth.

The man began to speak.
"I, I do not know where I am, and I do not know how I got here.
I was asleep and awoke to this sound. I thought at first it was drums of some sort. But as I awoke more and more, I came to realize that my hand was moving to my heart. With each beat, I felt my heart beat in time. I realized they were beating in exact unison.
Before I knew what was happening, I found myself walking, following, searching. It was as if I was lost and was following the path to where I knew I belonged.
In time, I heard voices. They were singing songs of such amazing beauty and the beat only got stronger.
In the black of the night, I saw such wonderful images dancing in silver, they spoke to me somehow.
I learned things.
I learned that this beat I heard was not only my heart beat, but yours as well. Two hearts, beating as one.”

The prince knew what the rose's secret was. For so many years, he has forgotten what it was like to feel his heart beat. Now, looking at this man before him, he knew that he was given that once piece that was missing from his life. His true love had found him.

In that moment, the two took each other in their arms and shared a kiss that brought such warmth to the world that it is said winter ended a month early and started up a few months late

The prince became known as the Silver Prince and he and his true love ruled together as the Destined Lovers until it became time to take their rightful place in the sky as the two brightest stars.

And they lived happily ever after, for all time.