She really shouldn't be doing this; it simply can't happen. Spencer is the Kingdom's prince, he'll be a king soon, and she is just a servant.

A servant that works in the palace library and whom he talks to about all the books and most various subjects when they see each other; but she is still just a maid.

But that can hardly stop Maeve Donovan from falling in love with him.

Perhaps it is the way he is always passionate whenever he talks about the books he reads; or the way he is so kind to her, even if she is just a maid in this castle.

But she knows one thing for sure: she is in love with him and if anyone finds out, things can go really bad.

"Maeve?" There is it. He is talking to her again, calling her by her name. A habit he made when they met. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, yes I am, your majesty." She replies softly as she continues to scrub the floor.

"I told you, there no reason for you to not call me Spencer." He laughs and she smiles. "It's my name."

"I don't think that is very proper. After all you are the prince, I must address to you in the right way." Maeve answers and his face falls.

"I don't like being prince." Spencer says. That is true, he had told Maeve innumerous times that all he wanted to do was study and make something meaningful to the world; his dream is to heal his mother illness.

"You can't escape from it, that is just the way things are." Maeve goes on "You're a prince, and you can do great things, you can help so many people."

"You can too." He says and she looks at him doubtfully. "Yes, you can. I have seen how good you are with books and you know a lot about genetics. Don't give up."

"It's easier said than done."

She replies seriously as some of the kingdom guards walk in the room. "I must leave."

"Maeve." Spencer says but she doesn't turn her head back at him; she just walks out of the huge library alone.

The prince never understands just why she does that. Maeve is his friend, she shouldn't be afraid to be seen around with him. Yes there are society rules that say a maid cannot be friends with a prince, but neither of them care about that.

"Your majesty?" One of the guards, Derek, asks him as he sees Spencer staring at the door from which Maeve left him.

"Yes?" Spencer asks. Derek had been his friend for so long that Spencer is sure the guard knows what is making him so confuse.

"It's her again?" Rossi asks.

"And may I ask what are you two talking about?" Spencer asks but Rossi looks at him and Spencer understands. Of course they know the young prince likes his servant friend.

But Spencer, even with all his knowledge, doesn't quite understand what this 'liking' means. Is Maeve a good friend of his? Yes. Does he like her as more than that? He isn't sure, but then, Prince Spencer had never had much knowledge about his own feelings. But he knows that her smile makes him smile.

And according to his mom -whom he confided about his conflicting feelings on Maeve- that can only be a good thing.

"We are friends, nothing else." Spencer replies sharply.

"We never said you were." The chief of the royal guard, Hotch, speaks. He understands the forces higher than them that are keeping the young lovers apart. But he also knows that if neither Spencer nor Maeve says anything, nothing will ever change. "But you, your majesty, must talk to her."

Talk with her. That sounded easy; only that it isn't. He can't talk with her about his feelings; she may get offended and push him away. He would lose the only friend he has that truly understands all he talks about. Science or not.

"We have to leave now. But take our advice in thought." Rossi finishes and the three men bow to the kingdom's future king and leave the library.

Spencer stays there and decides to read his favorite book to clear his mind; He proceeds to read a book that is filled with quotes from one of his favorites: Thomas Merton.

That did no good to take Maeve out of his mind, Spencer smiles as he traces his fingers over her favorite quote of Merton's.

"Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone, we find it with another."

"Why is this so hard?" Spencer asks himself and shakes his head. Usually love never crosses his mind, but with Maeve it is simply easy to imagine; he can see a future with her, he knows that she doesn't care for his tittle of future king. She cares about what he is besides that.

"What is hard?" He hears a voice ask from behind him. He could recognize that voice anywhere. It's Maeve who is talking to him. She must have seen that the guards have left and decided to talk with him again.

"Nothing, life, I guess." Spencer answers and she sits next to him on the sofa. It's something her superiors would most likely hate but she decides she doesn't care much anymore.

Maeve had made the decision to leave; she simply can't work here anymore. Not when she lives with fear of anyone noticing how she feels for the prince. Neither the king, nor most people from the castle would approve; her feeling can only give them trouble.

"Life shouldn't be hard." She begins "But look at us."

"I heard that there is a spot to study genetic on the royal lab. You need to try out." He blurts out. Spencer had been interested in studying too, but how could he? His father would never allow that he dropped his royal duties to study something that wouldn't make of him a proper king. Instead of books, math and chemistry; he had to learn war strategies and how to fight.

Yes, this things are useful, but what if in his studies he discovered things that would help not only his kingdom but all the kingdoms?

"You should take it." Maeve says.

"I think it's yours, it's what you like. And besides I won't use that anyway." He answers and looks at her with a small smile. "And I can always use the royal lab, even without studying there."

"Of course, how could I forget? The prince can go anywhere." Maeve smiles back playfully "It will be nice to study there, I promise you I'll try."

"You are going to do great things, Maeve Donovan." The young prince says "you'll do brilliantly in there."

"Only if you go to, at least until you become the king. Deal?" Maeve says, offering her hand for him to shake.

He takes it but kisses her hand instead. "It's a deal, Dr. Donovan. I'll study with you."

"Not yet a doctor, but one day I will be. You will too." She says, her cheeks still a deep red "Thank you."

"Thank you." Spencer says, and Maeve doesn't understand why he said those words but she doesn't ask, instead she just takes the book Spencer was reading as they begin reading together.

Maeve kisses his cheek as he sits a little closer, she does that without even thinking about it, and it is funny to see the prince blush too. They smile and continue reading. Not as the Prince and some maid. But as two people that have the same interests.

Perharps one day the young lovers will speak about what they feel, but not today. They made a big step already. They believe in each other and that is enough already, at least for them. After all, why take things too fast, when neither of them are so outgoing? They prefer the deep silence and the unspoken truth of love.