It was a warm spring day in late April, Everyone was outside enjoying their last day at the cottage, Danielle and her mother were taking a walk along the beach. Danielle looked out to the sea and noticed a ship coming up on the horizon.

"Look there's a ship, that's the first one I've seen here."

Captain Martin, Danielle's newly appointed guard looked out to the sea and exclaimed "It's heading right this way, ships don't dock here. Something isn't right. Your Highness, we must return to the cottage at once."

Suddenly a panic went about the three they briskly ran back to the cottage. Captain Martin trying to remain calm frantically searched for Henry. Barging through the door of the library he began to speak "Your Highness, there is a ship headed right toward the cottage, It seems very odd, I fear it..."before he could finish Henry was out the door and walking towards the terrace, as he looked out toward the ocean he began giving orders "Captain, take my wife and my children put them in a carriage and get out of here as fast as you can."

"Where to your highness?"

"Just head for Hautefort."

Frantically the Captain rushed to get the Princess. Danielle was Upstairs in her room when the captain burst in.

"Your Highness, Please get your children ready you may be in grave danger, and we must get you away at once."

Danielle looked up at the Captain and nodded, she walked over to the bassinets, scooping her precious daughter in her arms, she wrapped her in a blanket. just then the Queen came in and saw the look of fear in Danielle's eyes, she picked up her grandson without hesitation and they rushed downstairs, they were met by Henry at the bottom of the staircase, "We don't have much time to talk, Just get out of here" he continued to speak as the went out to the carriage "Your father is going with you, and I will be right behind you." "I love you Danielle." he said breathlessly as he helped Danielle into the Carriage, "and I love you Henry."

As the cottage pulled away Henry whispered "I'm Sorry". "What are we to do now, your highness?" Captain Laurent questioned reluctantly.

"How many guard do we have?" he replied

"we sent 4 with the carriage, so we have...6"

"what choice do we have...we must fight, If we run away, they win, we shall use the element of surprise, everyone to the Dining room ."

Captain Laurent peered out the window from behind the curtain of the dining room and announced "Henry, they are rowing to shore, what are we to do now?"

"They could of at least waited till dusk, goes to show how stupid they are, this shouldn't take long, how many men can you see?"

The Captain hesitated for a moment, "There are two small rowboats, 5 men in each. Sire they outnumber us, there are at least 20 men remaining on the ship"

"Being outnumbered has never stopped me before, these men are a threat to my family and I will not rest until every last one is dead." he replied sternly, slamming his fist onto the table.

"yes Sire"

" Everyone out to the foyer, prepare for attack" Henry commanded.

The carriage was now a safe distance away from the cottage, Everyone inside the carriage was silent. Danielle looked over at the worried faces of her mother and the Queen, as she bit her bottom lip nervously. She looked out the window and saw her father riding beside the carriage, she felt safe with him by her side. Suddenly the Carriage jolted to a stop. Danielle looked up at her father and saw him dismount from his horse and nearly jumped as she heard the familiar voice shouting.

"It's the Gypsies, I will go speak with them" Danielle exclaimed as she bolted from the carriage.

"you know these men, Danielle?" her father retorted.

"Yes, Its quite alright, they are friends of mine."

"Ah Princess, it is so good to see your beautiful face again" the gypsy leader spoke as he walked toward Danielle and her father.

"It's good to see you too, but what are you doing in this part of France?"

"I am a gypsy, I never stay in the same place long, I should be asking you the same question"

"I'd like to tell you, but we are in a bit of a rush, so if you'd just let us pass so we can be on our way."

"As You wish milady"

Danielle turned back to the gypsy and exclaimed "Henry may be in grave danger, will you please go help him, he is at the royal cottage, I'll send one of my guards with you."

"well why didn't you tell me that in the first place? " he shouted as he mounted his horse and motioned his men to follow.

Danielle got back into the carriage and they continued on the way to Hautefort.

Marguerite was just returning from another shopping trip, she went into her house and told the servants to get the stuff she had bought out of the carriage. She then headed toward her bedroom, she sat down on her bed and when she looked out the window she nearly jumped out of her skin as she saw the royal cottage engulfed in flames and smoke.

"Evrard, the royal cottage is on-fire!" she shouted to her husband who was in the next room.

She quickly ran out to the balcony, she saw 5 men approach from the burning building, one of them was Henry.

"Oh my Evrard, they are taking Prince Henry, Look…."

Marguerite looked on as she saw the Prince being dragged away by the men. Evrard ran out to the balcony to see for himself.

"we cannot just let them take him away, he is the Prince of France!" Evrard shouted.

"well go do something!"

"Look there's that Captain Laurent fellow, he will save him" he cowardly replied.

Weeks later at the Palace…..

Danielle was just getting re-adjusted to palace life, and getting used to being a mother. She was worried sick about Henry, and it was all she could think of, he hadn't returned to the palace yet and it'd been three weeks.

"I can't take this anymore, I'm going to look for him" Danielle cried out as she quickly stood and turned to the door.

'Danielle, you are not thinking rationally. You are a princess now, you can't just go off and look for him on your own. Besides, you have two newborn children who need you, I'm sorry dear. I know this is an awful thing to face but the royal guards are doing everything they can, and even some of the commoners have formed search parties for Henry, there's nothing you can do but sit….and wait.' Nicole calmly replied.

'it's the waiting that's driving me mad mother, I can't stand knowing that Henry is out there somewhere, he may be hurt, or ill…or…or….' unable to finish her sentence or hold back her tears, she collapsed into her mothers arms and sobbed quietly.

Nicole tried to comfort her 'Now dear, there's no use crying, it will only make things worse, I'm sure Henry will be home any day now'

Meanwhile….on a ship headed to the Americas……

A young man wakes up with a splitting headache, he touches his head and winces in pain. He slowly climbs out of the bunk and stumbles to the ground as he is not used to the constant rocking of the ship. The small wooden door creeks open and a gangly old man enters with a plate of food.

'Where are we going?' the young man asks.

'We are bound for the Americas' the old man replied as he sat the plate of food down on a small table next to him.

The young man continues 'for three weeks, no one has spoken a word to me, I have been locked down here like a prisoner, why?'

'tis because you are a prisoner, I'm disobeying the orders just telling you where we are going, but I don't agree with what we done to you, but it's best I keep that to myself, don't want to be thrown overboard or killed. I just do what I am told, and you best be doing the same thing if you ever want to return home'

The young man had a puzzled look upon his face 'why did you take me prisoner?'

'Well I'd think it was rather obvious'

'I…I don't know who I am' the young man stuttered.

'You mean you don't remember who you are? You don't know your name or anything?'

'No, the furthest back I can recollect is when I woke up on the ship three weeks ago.'

Just then another man yelled 'cotler get your worthless hide up here, you've got work to do'

The Old man scurried out, leaving the young man alone in the dark.

Back at the Palace…

'We have to tell Francis, she has a right to know' Queen Marie scolded the King.

'Telling her will only further upset her, she doesn't need anymore trauma. She's been through enough'

'I know what she's been through and I know what she is going though now, I have to live with it too. She should know. The longer we wait the more it will hurt, we must tell Danielle' The Queen turned to leave when she saw Danielle at the door.

'Tell me what?' Danielle asked frantically.

'Oh Hello dear. Please do come sit down. Marie said as she looked at Francis and nodded her head.

Danielle sat down and looked up at Marie and saw the sadness in her eyes.

'Wha…what is it?' Is it about Henry?' she hesitantly asked.

'Yes, I'm afraid so dear.'

Danielle bit her bottom lip and prepared for the worst.

'There isn't an simple way to say this dear, so I will tell it to you as it was told to me, the straight truth, Henry is dead.'

'NO! I won't believe it, he isn't dead, he can't be dead…NO!' She yelled as she broke down in tears.

The queen patted her lovingly on her back and took her in her arms and tried to comfort her 'there there dear, I didn't want to believe it either. My only son, dead. Its not an easy thing to accept, but you must Danielle.'

Danielle looked over at the king who was tearing up as well and quietly whimpered 'How?'

The King cleared his throat 'That is not important, your already upset enough.'

'Francis is right dear, your already so upset, and you look so pale, maybe you should go lie down' the queen added.

'I feel fine, but I want to know, I won't fully believe it until I am told'

King Francis cleared his throat and continued to speak 'well as you know the traitors burned the cottage down, well the workers were cleaning up the debris, and they found 7 bodies in the cellar, they were too badly burned to recognize, but this royal pendant was around the neck of one of them…' he pulled a necklace from a small velvet bag and handed it to Danielle.

She looked down at it and as a tear rolled down her cheek she faintly whispered 'It's Henrys'

Everyone just stood there, silent for a moment. Danielle looked up and said ' wait you said there were 7 bodies, Captain Laurent…was he one of them?'

The King sadly nodded "there is no way of knowing, but we believe so".

'Does Jacqueline know yet?'

'Yes' Marie replied.

'I want to go see her, she is probably devastated'

'are you sure you are up to it dear?'

'Yes, I need to. It will help me too.'

The ride to the manor seemed extra long to Danielle today, everything seemed to be in slow motion. As she looked out the window everything seemed to remind her of Henry. Once again she broke down in tears and sobbed quietly to herself.

The Carriage pulled up to the manor and Danielle stepped out. She knocked at the door and almost immediately Louise came to the door, with Paulette right behind her. Danielle fell into their arms and tried to hold back the tears.

'Is Jacqueline here?' she said as she wiped a tear from her rosy cheek.

'She's in her old room, poor dear has been up there all day, she came here this morning, she said she couldn't bear being in her home alone,and she won't come out to eat or anything' Paulette replied as she followed Danielle upstairs.

Danielle gently knocked on the door, and cried out 'Jacqueline, It's Danielle, may I please come in?'

She heard Jacqueline unlock the door, and as it swung open she stepped into the dark room, and saw Jacqueline standing over her bed, dresses thrown all around. She looked up at Danielle and said 'I guess you've heard…'

'Yes, and I'm so sorry Jacqueline.'

'I knew this day would come, I just didn't expect it so soon, I'm sorry about Henry too, it was an awful thing that happened to them…'

'Yes,if it had to happen ,I'm glad we will be going through this together, I don't think I'd be able to do this on my own'

'Me either'

She picked up a gown and held it up and looked at it "none of my gowns fit me anymore, I must have gained weight, I don't know how, I feel like I haven't eaten in days, and this morning I got sick all over my bed, I guess I should of gotten out of bed but I couldn't bring myself too. I have nothing to wear"

Danielle put her hands to her mouth and exclaimed "Jacqueline, are you sure you aren't going to have a baby?"

Jacqueline gasped " I hadn't even thought of that" she began to cry, "now I'm going to be a widow and have to raise a child on my own"

Danielle hugged her and comforted her as she sobbed quietly on her shoulder. "You will not have to do it on your own, I will be here for you, why don't you come and live at the palace, I'm sure the King and Queen will not mind."

"Oh do you really think I could, I just can't bear going home, there are too many memories there, oh the palace must be hard for you too, we will just have to be there for each other."

"Jacqueline, we have always been there for one another, remember all those times when Rodmilla would punish me and you would be right there comforting me and dressing my wounds"

"Yes, well now we shall dress each others wounds"