"This is much truer than I care to admit" he said smiling back a little and rubbing the back of his neck as if it were tense, which, it was as he had injured it in a riding accident a few years before and it sometimes gave him trouble.  "Will you please at least do me the honor of walking with me?" He asked expecting fully for her to turn him down but still wanting to ask and give her the opportunity.  Wanting one person to see him as what he truly was and more than just a pompous prince.  The puppet of his father's wishes.  "if nothing else I could escort you back to the ball room," He suggested hoping she didn't realize how nervous he truly was.  Besides if his fathers guards found her here there is no telling what they would do and then he might have to kill someone.  To extinguish, or even harm, a spirit as bright as this would be a crime of the highest magnitude, at least in his opinion,