Chapter One: An Interesting Woman
Danielle was just beginning to come to the horrible realization that everything might be for naught. Here she was, three minutes in, haggling with the man or rather sack of bones who was driving the cart with so-called "prisoners" and having no luck in securing her dearest friend's release. She was nearly beside herself with frantic worry and was becoming increasingly less confident in her ability to rescue Maurice.
She nearly shouted, "I demand you release him at once!"
This managed to further annoy the mangy man who clenched the reigns of the horse threateningly, yelling, "Get out of my way!"
Danielle automatically flinched but before she could do anything else she heard an unfortunately familiar voice behind her stating, "You dare raise your voice to a lady, sir?"
"Your Highness…" the man responded, and Danielle gave a low bow, keeping her eyes on the ground.
She prayed fervently to God that he would not recognize her.
The man went on to explain. "Forgive me, Sire, I meant no disrespect, it's just, err—I'm following orders. It's my job to take these thieves to the coast."
Danielle felt a vein in her forehead snap. "A servant is not a thief, your highness." By now, she was on the precipice of giving up on remaining as inconspicuous as possible. "And those who are," she continued, "cannot help themselves."
She practically heard the slow gears turning in his head as the prince asked, "really?"
She nodded.
"Well, then" he stated as if challenging her, "By all means, enlighten us."
Inhaling deeply, Danielle opened her speech. Though it was not well-rehearsed, lines of her most precious and well-read book appeared in the forefront of her mind.
"If you suffer your people to be ill-educated and their manners corrupted from infancy and then punish them for those crimes to which their first education disposed them, what else is to be concluded, Sire, but that you first make thieves and then punish them."
At this moment, Danielle dared to look his highness in the eye, and what she found pleasantly surprised her. His brow was furrowed and though he was looking right at her, his vision was unfocused. She figured her words were at the forefront of his mind.
It took a moment, but he quickly stated, "Well, there you have it… Release him."
Danielle couldn't stop the small smile that graced her features as the cart driver tried to protest only for the prince to state once more, "Release him."
Cowed, the man obliged. The large metal cage was opened and Maurice, in his old age, hobbled out of the cart with great joy. He took a few steps before embracing Danielle, whispering to her, "I thought I was looking at your mother."
His words brought great warmth to Danielle's heart, and she tried not to beam too brightly.
"Meet me at the bridge," she responded before sending him off.
She turned to face the prince once more, now a little more confident that he had not and would not recognize her. However, the next words out of his mouth sent her into an anxious spiral.
"Have we met?" He raised an eyebrow at her.
Having come to the realization earlier that her life was already on the line for lying about her identity, Danielle figured adding lying directly to the royal family was just another line she would have to cross. She swallowed before answering, "I do not believe so, Your Highness."
This did little to dissuade him. "I could have sworn I knew every courtier in the province."
Danielle was becoming alarmingly aware of the increase her tale was going to have to undergo in order for her to escape this predicament.
"Well… I'm visiting a cousin." She lied.
"Who?"
"… my cousin."
"Yes, you said that. Which one?" He pressed.
"The only one I have, Sire." Danielle was slowly losing her hope that she would be able to make it out of this in one piece. Thankfully, the prince seemed to figure she was playing some sort of mind game with him which honestly, wasn't that far from the truth.
"Are you being coy on purpose? Or do you honestly refuse to tell me your name?" He took a step forward, perhaps in an attempt to intimidate Danielle. Although, having grown up wrestling men to the ground and learning to fight, him merely standing a bit closer didn't make Danielle afraid at all. It sort of emboldened her actually.
"No! And yes." She answered.
He sighed, "Then pray, tell me your cousin's name so I might call upon her to learn who you are. Anyone who can quote Thomas More is well worth the effort."
This statement actually caught Danielle by surprise. "The prince has read Utopia?" Her eyes widened a bit in astonishment however, his next statement quickly brought ire to her eyes.
"I found it sentimental and dull. I confess the plight of the everyday rustic bores me."
"I gather you do not converse with many peasants." Danielle prodded.
He chuckled as if the very idea amused him. "Certainly not, no! Naturally."
Now, more upset than warry, Danielle felt the need to correct the prince. "Excuse me, Sire, but there is nothing natural about it. A country's character is defined by its everyday rustics, as you call them. They are the legs you stand on. That position demands respect, not—"
"Am I to understand that you find me arrogant?" He interrupted which further garnered Danielle's indignation.
"Well," she raised her chin in defiance. "You gave one man back his life but did you even glance at the others?"
Danielle noted her mistake almost immediately as his strange fascination with her and thoughtfulness on account of her words turned into a different expression on his face… recognition. His mouth opened and Danielle could already see herself being shipped off to the Americas when by some miracle of God's grace, the queen herself began to call to the prince.
"Oh, Henry!" The queen and her entourage made their way toward them. Using it as a distraction, Danielle quickly fled the scene, her heart beating wildly. She kept waiting to hear the guards chasing her, an order for her to be caught immediately but it never came. As Danielle walked quickly through town, she had little to console her. She might have succeeded in freeing Maurice, but surely, she had doomed herself.
As Henry listened to his parents' lecture, trading barb for barb with his father while hearing the quiet moans of his mother, a great part of his mind was largely occupied by the lady he had spoken with earlier. Or a servant, he was beginning to believe.
Ever since he first truly looked at her while in the courtyard, his brain had been trying to place her pleasing face to someone. But it was towards the end of their conversation/debate when it all finally clicked into place. There was something about the fire and passion in her eyes that immediately brought him back to earlier that morning when a servant girl violently threw apples at his head.
The whole original encounter had been so strange he had hardly time to pay it any thought. But then, after conversing with her later that day, he found himself to be completely and utterly fascinated. One might even say bewitched. But with a servant girl? Then again, she might not be. But how was he to truly know?
There was only one thing he could really do. Find a way back to the orchard in which he had first met her and confirm for himself if the two women were really one and the same. Then… then he would decide what to do. Still, the first obstacle was going to be getting out of this blasted castle again.
Danielle kept waiting for the moment the palace guards would show up at their doorstep and inform her of her ill fate. If the baroness and her daughters had noticed that she had been more flighty than usual they didn't say anything other than occasionally giving her a look of utter disdain. She had been surprised to hear that by order of the prince, the rest of the men and women who had been on their way to the Americas had been freed. Still, it did little to console her.
But when the rest of the day passed without so much a stranger at the door, and she settled into her bed, Danielle found herself wrought with insomnia. There was simply too much adrenaline coursing through her veins to let her rest.
With a huff of frustration, Danielle rose and grabbed one of her father's old swords that she kept hidden in the attic. She changed into some spare clothes that Gustave had given her for practicing with the blade specifically and left the house as quietly and discreetly as possible.
At first, she didn't know where exactly she was going but her feet soon lead her to the orchard where technically, the whole ordeal started. Angry and very much frustrated beyond belief, Danielle began taking out her pent-up feelings on some of the trees. Going through the forms that her father had drilled into her ever since she was big enough to hold a sword, she slowly felt the anxiety drift away.
Here she was in control.
She could feel her father next to her, giving her soft commands and correcting her stance. She shifted her foot and adjusted the angle of her blade. There was no stepmother and stepsisters consistently nagging her. There were no chairs to be furnished, stoves to be cleaned, and breakfasts to be made. And most importantly, there was no pr—Clang!
Danielle's eyes widened as she was drawn out of her almost meditative state by the sound of her sword crossing with another. She wasn't aware of who the person was in front of her, as the moon had disappeared behind some clouds. Worry and fierce determination entered her, and she found herself in the midst of a dual.
Her opponent was good, very good, Danielle noted to herself as she moved to avoid a jab to her right. She parried his next oncoming strike and felt the person stumble because of a tree root that was sticking out of the ground. Using their momentum against them, Danielle pressed forward, crossing their blades one more time to disarm her opponent. They fell to the ground with an "Oof!" That sounded oddly familiar. Danielle was about to celebrate winning the fight when her opponent began to speak.
"So, are you a servant, a courtier, or a master swordsman?"
The moon then chose that moment to appear from behind the clouds and shine soft light on the clearing, revealing that her opponent had been nonother than Prince Henry himself. This time, however, Danielle did not drop to the ground to beg forgiveness; she felt herself beyond that point. Instead, she reached for his sword that was laying beside her and turned it around, offering the hilt to the prince.
"I would like to consider myself all three." She felt a smile tug at the corner of her mouth. Having already accepted her fate, Danielle couldn't bring herself to panic anymore. She had done enough of it during the day.
The prince seemed completely flabbergasted by her behavior as he accepted his sword and stood up. For a moment, neither of them said anything. They just stood across from each other with merely a foot of space between them, sizing themselves up.
"You are quite the anomaly, aren't you?" the prince finally exclaimed softly.
"I'd imagine though, not for long," Danielle responded, returning her sword to its sheath. "For I am afraid my offenses to you are one too many and require the strictest of punishments. For that, I offer myself up. You are free to do with me as you wish." She gave a curtsy which she imagined looked quite strange in her men's clothing.
"Wait," the prince tilted his head. "You think I'm here to imprison you?"
"And ship me off to the America's where I probably belong or kill me." Danielle finished.
The prince looked surprised at the assumption she had come to.
Danielle raised an eyebrow. "Let's see," She lifted her hand to count. "One, I attacked your royal highness early this morning, knocking you off the horse. That alone is enough for imprisonment. Two, I lied and paraded myself as a courtier. Three, I personally lied to your royal highness which counts as another offense in it itself. And four, not a minute ago, I held a blade against your highness and disarmed you. That would certainly warrant banishment, if not death. In fact, I am so amazed that I managed to acquire so many offenses, and in one day no less."
She heard a snort and turned to find the prince struggling to contain his amusement. Danielle crossed her arms as his snorts turned into a roaring fit of laughter. He was bent over with his hands on his knees by the time he had managed to calm himself.
"I am most glad that in all my offenses, at least I have managed to offer some sort of penance in the form of amusement," Danielle said irately.
"No, no," he said as he stood straight. "You don't understand! This has been the single most interesting, most entertaining thing that has ever happened to me!"
"I see."
"It's hilarious!" He grinned and had Danielle been less irritated by his behavior, she might have found his smile quite attractive.
"Your highness, you might save us some time and dispatch me right now so I can finally rest in peace." Danielle deadpanned.
"Now why ever would I do that?" He looked at her smugly. "This is the best entertainment I've had in years. Not only that, but it would also be a shame if such as swordsman—rather swordswoman were killed. I haven't been bested in a duel in a while."
"You are too kind to exaggerate my skills, your highness. Surely the lack of light and the new terrain did more to hinder you than I ever could." Danielle felt her face flush from his compliment. It wasn't every day that she was able to showcase her skill with a blade and much less be praised for it.
He nodded. "You may be right, but it still took quite a bit of skill to beat me, of that, I am sure."
"I confess your highness; your presence here confuses me. If you aren't here to punish me then what was your purpose in coming here?" Danielle admitted.
"I confuse you?" The prince stepped beside her. "Surely it is the other way around. You have captivated my thoughts since this morning. Why would a serving girl risk everything for a fellow servant, lecture a prince at the risk of her identity being exposed, and run away as if she would not be pursued? You must have at least expected that I would come after you, one way or another?"
"Nay," Danielle felt her heart grow a bit lighter as she was coming to understand that no, he was not here to kill her. "Although I did expect to be pursued, it was not by you. For the rest of the day, my thoughts have been occupied by inevitable imprisonment.
"Then let me assure you that I will do no such thing. I am here to gain some knowledge as to who you are, mysterious lady." The prince gave a mock bow.
Danielle was about to answer him when a yawn escaped her mouth first. Now that she wasn't on the brink of death or imprisonment, the full weight of the day seemed to hit her all at once and she found herself incredibly tired.
"I'm afraid I might have to offer one more offense to your majesty then," she replied with another yawn. "If it is alright with your majesty, may we meet again tomorrow. I'm sad to say today's exploits have quite worn me out and I will have duties to attend to tomorrow as well."
The prince was silent for a moment and Danielle was afraid that perhaps she had pushed her luck a little too far. Instead, surprising her once more, the prince stated, "You are right, aren't you? Yes, we should reconvene by the morrow. I should know better than to keep a lady, even one such as unique as yourself, up this late.
Danielle tilted her head to look at the prince, once more. His eyes reflected the moon's light brilliantly. And in the dark, he seemed much more a man than a prince. She gave another bow which she was sure he found amusing judging by the small smile on his face. She was about to walk off when she heard him say, "Wait. This time, I must have your name."
She paused in her step and looked over her shoulder, flashing him a smile of her own. "It is Danielle, your majesty. Danielle De Barbarac."
"Then I shall meet you here tomorrow, Danielle, in the evening?"
"You shall," Danielle nodded before making her way back to the house.
The walk seemed to pass by in a blur and before she knew it, Danielle collapsed into the bed, not even bothering to change out of her clothes. For what little dreams she had that night, they were filled with apples, courtiers, and swords.
"Do you really think there is only one perfect mate" Henry found himself asking Da Vinci.
Between his parents' promise/deal and an infuriatingly fascinating girl, Henry had seldom time to really think over his upcoming nuptials and what exactly it would mean for him. The fact that he had to find someone within the next four days and marry them for life was quite daunting. He couldn't imagine finding love so quickly, much less true love. So here he was, airing out his grievances to Da Vinci.
"As a matter of fact, I do." The inventor genius quickly answered him.
This did little to ease Henry's anxiety. "How can you be certain to find them? And if you find them, are they really the one for you… or do you only think they are?"
Henry started to pace about, his thoughts absentmindedly turning to a servant girl in men's clothing. "What if the person you're meant to be with never appears? Or she does but you're too distracted to notice?"
"Then you learn to pay attention," Da Vinci succinctly answered.
That still wasn't enough for Henry. "Then let's say, God puts two people on earth, and they are lucky enough to find one another. But… one of them gets hit by lightning, well, then what? Is that it? Or perchance you meet someone new and marry again. Is that the lady you should be with? Or was it the first? When the two of them are side by side, were they both the one for you, and you just met the first one first, or is the second one supposed to be first?"
By now, Henry was starting to confuse himself with his questions. "And… is everything just chance," he continued, "Or are some things meant to be?"
Da Vinci finally answered his musings by saying, "You cannot leave everything to fate, boy. She's got a lot to do. Sometimes, you must give her a hand." He finished while picking up a strange device that looked something like a boat to Henry.
"What's this project?" Henry asked, choosing to put his mind off the confusing nature of love for a moment.
Da Vinci smiled. "Would you care to see if they work?"
A short time later, Henry was looking out towards the water, marveling at the fact that Da Vinci was walking above the waves in his strange contraption. He could have sworn he only looked away for a moment when he heard a shrill scream followed by a shout. By the time he got to the shore to help Signor Da Vinci, the man was already walking out of the lake with another person in tow.
"Signor Da Vinci, are you alright?" He asked the old man.
Da Vinci waved off his concerns stating, "I should leave walking on water to the Son of God. Fortunately, I tripped over an angel!"
It was then that Henry realized who the person was wringing their hair out over the water.
"Danielle!" He exclaimed, taking a step towards her.
"Your highness!" She moved to curtsy but stumbled, almost drenching herself again. Henry had to bite his cheek in order not to laugh again.
"Careful," she said, rising out of the water a little more. "It's slippery there."
He finally remembered his noble sensibilities and offered her his hand to help her out of the water. He took one of the water walking shoes from her hand and guided her to the shore. "Allow me."
"Thank you," She gave him a soft smile and Henry almost forgot how to walk himself.
Once they were on shore and both Da Vinci and Danielle began to dry off. Henry found himself completely captivated by Danielle's movements and didn't notice Da Vinci side eyeing them.
"So shall we add swimming to your list of capabilities?" Henry asked, hoping to get another smile out of her.
He was rewarded with the corner of her mouth twitching and the rolling of her eyes as she responded, "I'm afraid my swimming skills are not as well kept as my other ones."
"Well, since we have met earlier than intended, perhaps you should elaborate on how you acquired all these skills."
Danielle frowned before looking at the opposite side of the shore. "I'm afraid I cannot your majesty, seeing as I have other duties to attend to. It was not my intention to be long and I will be needed back at the house very soon."
Henry's brow furrowed. "Surely if you can spare a few minutes for the river, you can spare a few minutes for your prince."
He wasn't intending to come off mean or arrogant but judging by the way Danielle huffed and stood up, he assumed that his words had that effect.
"I must be going," Danielle restated, gathering her things.
She turned to walk away, but Henry was undeterred in his mission to get answers from her. She was right here in front of him! He could barely stand the thought of having to wait till the evening now. So, to keep her longer, he opted to stall her.
"You're angry with me." He stated.
"No," She replied rather forcefully.
"Admit it," He prodded, hoping to get a reaction.
Danielle sighed. "Well, yes, if you must know."
"Why?" He watched all the expressions flash across her face, charmed by the scrunching of her nose and the turn of her mouth. He almost didn't hear the words she was saying.
"Because you are trying to bait me with your snobbery."
"I'm afraid, mademoiselle, you are a walking contradiction and I find that rather fascinating." He tilted his head to observe her more closely.
"I believe," She grumbled. "We've already had this conversation before."
"You are a commoner, but you have the voice of a noblewoman, the skill of a swordsman, and the conviction of a scholar—and all of these things contradict each other." Henry elaborated.
She fixed him with a glare. "You own all the land there is, yet you take no pride in working it. Is that not also a contradiction?"
Henry shifted his weight from one foot to the other, the verbal sparring becoming increasingly exciting. "First, I'm arrogant, and now I have no pride. However, do I manage that?"
Danielle caught his gaze and held it with her own. "You have everything and still the world holds no joy. Yet you make fun of those who would see it for its possibilities."
He was stunned. Once again, he was beaten at his own game.
"How do you do it?"
"What?" Danielle replied, a little confused at the sudden change in his tone.
"Live each day with this kind of passion? Don't you find it exhausting?" He asked sincerely.
He watched her smirk and reply, "Only when I'm around you."
She paused for a second before asking, "Why do you like to irritate me so?"
He couldn't stop the words from leaving his mouth. "Why do you rise to the occasion?"
He observed her lifting her head boldly, standing proudly as if she weren't a servant but a noble lady of the most acceptable breeding. He was in the middle of trying to find something else to say to keep her when they both heard a voice yelling for Danielle.
"Forgive me, Your Highness, but I really must be returning to the house," Danielle said with a note of finality.
It was at that moment that Da Vinci thought he should insert himself in the conversation. "But the wind," he stated, "It's perfect!"
"I am sorry," Danielle looked over at the older man and gave another small bow.
Before Henry even knew what he was doing, he asked, "I'm playing tennis tomorrow. Will you come?"
She raised an eyebrow. It was an expression that Henry was beginning to enjoy on her features. "I must go."
With that, she walked away before Henry could get another word in.
"Why does she keep doing that?" He kicked a pebble on the shore into the water.
For the life of him, he didn't know what possessed him to invite Danielle to his tennis match. Especially since she was meeting him tonight. He figured once he asked his questions and got some answers, the burning desire to understand her would quickly dissipate. However, after this meeting, something was telling him that that would not be the case.
Da Vinci came up beside him. "That is an interesting woman you've found yourself in the acquaintance of."
"Yes," Henry mused, "Very."