On her way back to the stable for her night cleaning shift Danielle wondered about what Monique and Michelle had said. How could she manage to compete with all the beautiful wealthy eligible ladies in the kingdom when she could not even see or be with her Prince? To her surprise when she reached the stable there he was, stroking a rather large brown horse. She fell on her face at the sight of him.
"Henry, what are you doing here?" Danielle whispered so that no one who might be in the vicinity could hear her.
"I came to see you my love" Henry chuckled while helping her off the ground. Of course he looked as handsome and clean as ever while she was covered in soot and hair was all over the place she thought.
"How did you know where to find me?"Danielle asked.
"Well I told Madame DeVaulle I wanted to check to see if you were still around." He stated flatly.
"Henry won't she be suspicious?" asked Danielle in an anxious tone.
"I don't know, maybe. But to be honest what could she really do? I needed to see you. I missed you." He said while pulling her into a tight embrace.
"Oh Henry I missed you more than you can imagine. I'm so alone here…well besides for Abby that is." Danielle did not know whether it was smart to mention Abby after what Abby had said about Henry. Perhaps he hated her as much as she hated him.
"Who's Abby?" Guess not..Danielle mused.
"She's another servant-girl I became friends with. She sleeps in the bed next to me." Said Danielle wondering if now Abby might ring a bell.
"At least you made a friend. I wish I could be here with you. It drives me crazy to know that you're so close to me and yet I have no idea where you are."Henry said.
Danielle reached up and kissed Henry deeply on the lips. He smiled gazing into her eyes. Then Danielle picked up the stable equipment and started to clean.
"What are you doing?"Henry asked admittedly annoyed.
"We can talk while I clean but I will get into a lot of trouble if I do not finish my duties for tonight."Henry did not like the sound of it.
"I would not let them get you into trouble. I have power around here….."Henry said defensively.
"I know you do, sweetheart, but how would you know?" said Danielle in a slightly defeated tone.
"Ughhh that gets me so angry… all right. Why don't you take a break and let me clean up."
Danielle couldn't help breaking out into a fit of laughter at the notion. She was pretty sure he'd never held a broom in his whole life.
"Why the hell not? I should leave you my lovely princess to do this while I just sit here."Danielle ignored the lovely princess comment, knowing that it was far from the truth at the moment.
"And let you get that snazzy outfit of yours all dirty I don't think so." Fought back Danielle.
"I don't care about the stupid outfit I'm not useless, you know." Said a very frustrated Henry.
"hmmm you're cute when you pout." He continue to glare at her.
"You think this is funny. Well it's not. I hate watching you like this. Let me give you a break. You can order me around for once." He said winking at her on the last part.
"I don't think so. If they found out that you were doing my job I'd have to face a lot worse than a dirty floor and you know it. So just sit back and relax my liege" She was definitely joking on the last part but Henry could tell it did not hit her eyes.
Suddenly there was a knock on the stable door.
"HENRY! Where have you been, your father and I called for you ten minutes ago. We have some very important matters to discuss with you. Who are you talking to?"
Danielle ducked down and pretended to be cleaning a corner of the stall as the Queen entered the room. This was the first time that Danielle had ever really been up close to her mother-in –law to be before. Sure there was the ball, but she was a little too busy focusing on being ratted out to the whole kingdom and having her beloved ending their relationship to notice her. The Queen had a tough exterior of a monarch but Danielle could tell her eyes were purely gentle as they looked lovingly at her only son.
"Oh I'm sorry mother," Henry replied cooly. "I hadn't known you'd called. I wasn't speaking to anyone in particular, just thinking aloud."
"Not about anything too important I hope." She said as she glanced at Danielle for the first time since entering the room.
"No, nothing of importance." Henry replied as they walked out of the room together with Danielle still sitting on the floor.