13 years later

"Liz! Hey, Liz! Wait up!" Elizabeth pulled on Star's reins, slowing her from a gallop to a walk. She tossed her blonde, curly hair over her shoulder. As she caught sight of her best friend, Jocelyn, her blue eyes sparkled happily.

"Jocelyn!"

"Bonjour, Elizabeth!" Jocelyn trotted her own horse next to Star. Her unruly brown hair was pulled back in a bun, a few errant stands escaping to frame her pale, freckled face. Her painted horse, Jack, neighed at Star.

Both the girls stopped their horses. "What brings you here, mon ami?" Elizabeth asked, her eye gleaming mischievously. "Away from your husband, I might add?"

Jocelyn giggled. "Oh, Pierre is packing. He said I could take a break, and so, here I am!"

Elizabeth's smile slid off her face, replaced by curiosity. "Packing?"

"Oh! I forgot, you don't know! Désole! But it's good news, I swear!"

Elizabeth's smile returned, though now it was a little forced. "And what are these good news?"

"Pierre and I are moving! To Paris!"

"Oh…well, that's great, Jocelyn!" Elizabeth leaned sideways in her saddle and gave Jocelyn a brief, one-armed hug. She was happy for her friend, of course but Jocelyn was her only friend in the village.

When she left, Elizabeth would be all alone, save for her father.

"I know! Paris, can you imagine it? With all the shops and people and clothes…" Jocelyn tailed off and sighed dreamily. "And I promise, Liz, I'll write to you every week!"

Elizabeth brightened. "Of course! And promise to tell me everything about Paris! You'd better not leave out a single detail!"

"Oh, I won't!" Jocelyn laughed. "Before Pierre figures out he doesn't know much about packing…" She lifted her reigns with her hand. "Race?"

"But of course, Madame!" Her mood lightened considerably, Elizabeth nudged Star into a trot, a canter, and finally, a gallop, Jocelyn following close behind.

"Au revoir, Elizabeth!" Jocelyn hugged her friend. It was a week later, and Pierre was loading their belongings into a carriage.

"Au revoir, Jocelyn! And remember, a letter every week!"

"As long as you remember to reply to them, if your not buried in those faery tales of yours!"

"It's a deal!" Elizabeth stepped away from her friend, holding onto her delicate gold locket, in the shape of a heart. Jocelyn wore its twin around her neck. A gift from Elizabeth's mother, before she died, they were their friendship lockets, as they dubbed them.

Pierre tucked his wavy black hair behind his ears, green eyes squinting against the sun. "Come, Jocelyn! It's time to go!"

Jocelyn turned and squeezed into the carriage, crowed with their belongings. "Pierre climbed into the seat and got the two horses, one of them being Jocelyn's Jack, and they were off. Jocelyn waved good-bye at Elizabeth until they hit a turn on the road and disappeared from sight.

"Au revoir, Jocelyn," Elizabeth repeated to the empty air.

"Bonjour, Monsieur!" Belle steeped through the door of the village's small and library.

"Bonjour, Elizabeth! Here for another faery-story?" The ancient librarian stood up from behind his desk, retrieving his glasses from the top of his head. Skinny as a rail, with tangled grey hair pulled behind his head with a string, and wire-rimmed spectacles, the librarian looked more than half-crazy, but was one of the only people in the village who thought that Elizabeth's hobby of reading books was not strange.

"What else would I be here for?" she answered with good humor. Her eye caught sight of a book with a green jacket. "I've never seen that one before. Is it new?"

"Oui, it only came in a few days ago. I think it would be toward your liking, Mademoiselle Liz. It's about the Fey you adore so much."

"Then I'll read it." She took it from its place on the shelf and looked happily at its gold-embossed green cover. A pattern of leaves bordered the spine, and a small, winged sprite glittered from the front of the book. 'It's beautiful."

"And it pleases this old man to hear somebody say so." The librarian sat back down at his desk, cracking his neck. "God knows these days very few appreciate a good book, much less its cover. Especially that fop, Giles."

Elizabeth hid her smile with the book. " Very true, very true. Though, of the book had many illustrations of Giles, and worshipped the ground he walked on, then he may be the one with his nose in a book all the time, not me."

"And that would be a sign form the Lord that the world is coming to an end. Enjoy the book, Elizabeth."

"I will! Au revoir!" Holding the book carefully in one hand, she left the library, heading for her home."

"I'm home!' she called into the house as she closed the door behind her. Her father, a average-sized men, tanned from working on the farm and graying at the temples, greeted her warmly.

"Welcome back, mon ange. A new book?" He nodded his head to what would be Elizabeth's best and only companion for the next few days.

"Of course, Father. I'm going to go to my room right now and read it."

"In a moment, Elizabeth. I have to talk to you." Her motioned for her to sit down at their small wooden table, that had only room for three. Elizabeth obeyed, sweeping her brown skirt under her as she sat down.

"Is something the matter, Father?"

"Elizabeth, you know how your mother and I only wanted the best for you." Elizabeth frowned at the mention of her mother, who had died some odd -six years earlier. Her father rubbed the back of his neck and pressed on. "Well, before she died, we…betrothed you."

"To whom?" Elizabeth's hands tightened on her book under the table. She didn't want to get married, not now, or ever! She was only eighteen and , though that was considered a perfectly marriageable age, had no intention of being married of to some man she never met!

"Giles Gemme."

"Non, not Giles! Father, he's a fop! All he cares about are his looks!"

"Not true, Liz. Giles has had a liking for you for a long time."

"He can barely read!"

"Elizabeth, he will take care of you, give you a good home." Giles' family was one of the most prosperous, and had a beautiful house on the edge of the village.

"Must I, Father?"

"Mon ange, it is already arranged. And I want to know you'll be taken care of if anything happens to me."

Elizabeth nodded mutely. First Jocelyn moving away, and now…this.

"I have to go and check on the horses." Her father stood up and patted her on the shoulder sympathetically. "Don't fret about it, Liz. It will turn out wonderfully, in the end."

Elizabeth also stood up and trudged to her room.

She walked in to her one sanctuary. It was small, and didn't have much furniture, but she had slept and read in there since she could remember. It had a small bed against one wall, with a sky-blue blanket her mother had made, and square writing desk that her father had made. A handful of white candles were on it, so she could coninue o read into the late hours of the night.

Her room, her home. And no she was supposed to abandon it? For some conceited fop who could care less about her?

It wasn't fair.

Bad things come in threes, her mother used to say.

Could anything worse happen next?

A/N so, what do you think of chapter 2? Review, please!