Finding a Prince

Chapter 1

A/n: The chapters will get longer and better its just I'm in a bit of a rush right now. I will try to update at least once a week. Thank you for reading and enjoy . . .

Dan had a tendency to be rather spoilt around other people. It wasn't his fault really; it was just that no one had the nerve to say no to him. He was a prince after all. He was also the heir to his family's kingdom and therefore their favourite and most doted upon child, so everyone just assumed he was a brat. Dan, who was in fact quite a decent person when he wanted to be, was rather annoyed by this fact but with him being seemingly allergic to most types of social interaction, he was never really in the public eye long enough to change their perspective of him. Yeah, he wasn't a horrible person, he just didn't really like talking to people, at all. It didn't help that is sarcastic attitude often came across as rude and while it was completely unintentional, he had managed to somehow managed to offend almost every noble in Serultria. Dan knew that he would one day have to mend these broken relations and he had to at least make some noble friends but for the mean time he was content to wallow in the lofty rooms of the palace, alone.

The palace Dan lived in was enormous. It had been passed down the family for generations and generations to the point, where despite its constant repairs, parts of it were beginning to fall to pieces. If you looked past the weathered brick and slightly off-white plaster on the outside of the palace however, you would have noticed the overall magnificence of this huge building. The grand entrance was outlined by the large intricately carved wooden doors that had everything from the Howell family crest to depictions of epic battles and passages from books carved into the shiny, maroon wood. You could spend hours looking at it and never get bored, at least no one had spent enough time looking at it to get bored. Several towers rose above the main part of the palace and pointed towards the sky, each one with a large room at the top and a solitary window looking out over the large expanses of forest and field outside the city. They always reminded Dan of the books be would read in the palace library, almost as if they were in a fairy tale and some poor maiden was about to lean out and sing a pretty song about the Prince that was sure to come and rescue her. The countless other windows that looked over the city were hung with green ivy and other climbing plants of all sorts, from dainty blue flowers to great bit roses the size of a hand. Although the outside of the palace was immensely impressive, it was the interior that made it special.

There were too many rooms to count for a start. At least thirty bedrooms along with a multitude of lounges, music rooms, painting rooms, pottery studios, kitchens, pantries, store rooms, servant's quarters and far more that probably hadn't been entered for years and years. Dan had tried many times to visit all of them however the winding corridors and endless rooms had always daunted him so he tended to keep to his own quarters. His room bore the usual red and gold that was saturated throughout the rest of the palace however with a bit of black to dull it down a bit. Black is, in Dan's opinion, the only acceptable colour for a room to be. Pair that with the young princes almost completely monochrome wardrobe and you have the perfect combination. Dan's favourite place however was the library. The shelves stacked up towards the ceiling and the once organised rows of books had been pulled out and stuffed back in so many times that the shelves no longer fitted them all so they had started to spill onto the desks and chairs by the floor. The library was quiet and for the most part deserted so it made for a great place to slowly get absorbed into another world. Plus, you could never run out of reading material.

Despite these amazing rooms there was one that stood out from the rest as the most beautiful in the palace. The Great throne room. The giant hall on the other side of the main doors was vast. The 50ft walls were ingrained with gold and red paint and five golden chandeliers, each holding at least 50 candles hung from the painted plaster ceiling. The floor was made of polished marble covered by intricate rugs and mats. Huge fireplaces, four on each side of the room, warmed hall and the flickering light made you warm and welcome. The Stain glass windows lining each side of the hall were like that of those in a church however the pictures were a little more light hearted than those in the city cathedral. There were endless things to look at, from small trinkets, gathered from every corner of the known kingdoms to exotic flowers displayed in colourful vases. The palace was certainly not a boring place.