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They sat in the center of the pews and received little attention from the few patrons who had coh they sat close together, father and son had grown e, I wanted to be awith his son, but it was all he had "Did you know that?"

Jaron nodded His , his father would occasionally show hih he was careful never to do so when there were servants around His father thought it would be an embarrassment

Eckbert s the fippler, and although I confess I wasn’t very good, it brought ht you a song or two, I believe"

"I remember one of them," Jaron whispered "Mother’s favorite"

Eckbert folded his arainst the bench of the church "My father, your grandfather, couldn’t tolerate the squeaks and pitches ofHe said , and a waste of ht"

Jaron listened quietly It was hard to picture his father as ever having been a boy, as ever having any desire unconnected with the throne

"You and I are not so different as youI could have been someone other than a crown prince"

"I’m not a crown prince," Jaron reminded him "Just a prince Darius will take the throne"

"As he should And he’ll be a fine king one day But what about you? What do you want for your life? Being a prince doesn’t seem to suit you"

His father had intended to , even beyond the castle walls Jaron took it that his father felt he was unfit for his title and offered nothingin response

"How has your life as a commoner been these past weeks?" Eckbert asked

"I’ve ed"

"I knew you would And I know you can"

Jaron glanced up at his father with questioning eyes What did he hed "Still, there will be hard lessons If you are not Jaron, then you are nobody to the world They will not care if you go hungry, if you are cold, if you lie beaten on the streets I’ll do the best I can for you, and beg your forgiveness that I can’t do more"

"I want to come home," Jaron said softly It was difficult for hih to be a prince or not, he couldn’t take another day on his own His mother would want him back, probably Darius too He wasn’t sure about his father