"This will be my first clue: Who has a face covered with soot and ashes, but isn't a chimney sweep?"

The Prince looked puzzled and shook his head.

"Ah, you have no answer for me, then?"

Dominic was used to having his way. It didn't really matter what he did, exactly, as long as it was the opposite of what everybody wanted him to do. His greatest joy in life was fooling around with his two friends, Edward and Thomas, who were equally free from cares.

Not that Dominic was free from cares. Well, at least, not nominally. He was, after all, the prince. This meant that he had to take care of the kingdom and look out for the welfare of his subjects and something else that he ignored because at this point in his father's speech, he was already tuning him out completely.

His mother, though she put up with most of his foolishness, had now grown equally stern.

"You are going to be eighteen years old, for Heaven's sake!" she had exclaimed that morning. "What use are you to anyone now, with your horse and your bow? Do you intend to shoot down a princess like you would a pheasant?"

Dominic had laughed at this, thinking that his mother was teasing, as usual. He was startled, however, when she did not join in, but instead, stared at him sternly.

"Mum, that's Father's job," he commented, indicating her crossed arms.

"Not today. I've put up with your silly behaviour for long enough. No, no, I think it's time that you find yourself a wife. Perhaps she might reach you and your senses in a way that your father and I cannot," the Queen finished.

This had deeply upset Dominic, who usually went to his mother for support after a verbal beating from his father. Now she was berating him as well!

"Mum, I can't believe it's come to this. I don't want to get married anytime soon. I'm still young, and my life is still ahead of me. Do you honestly think that I-"

"Yes, I do! And you must!" she interrupted. "I will not see you live out your life in this terrible state."

Dominic pouted. "A terrible state, Mum?"

"Yes, just that! Your hunting and your frolicking and-"

"What's wrong with frolicking?"

"I won't dignify that with an answer."

"Aha! That's because you think that it isn't worthless or terrible after all, don't you?"

"I think that if you don't start to behave yourself and actually listen to your tutors, I will be forced to arrange a marriage for you. And I don't think that you really care for the Lady Theresa."

Dominic blanched. "The Lady Theresa?"

"Yes, yes," she continued in an offhand way, "the Earl of Wycourt's daughter. She only turned seventeen at the beginning of the season and is at a marriageable age."

"I won't marry her, Mother," he growled through gritted teeth.

"You will, unless you start to behave yourself."

The conversation had ended. Dominic stood for a few minutes, grinding his teeth and shooting daggers with his eyes. However, his father came in and he fled from the room like an affrighted rabbit, hoping to avoid more trouble.

And now here he was, riding through the forest, hoping to get away from the terrible sensation that there was no way to escape this terrible fate of marriage.

"Cheer up, Your Highness," Edward shouted from the back of his stallion.

"Don't tell him what to do, Ed," Thomas shouted from the other side of the Prince.

"Both of you, shut up!" Dominic snarled. "Or do you want the tutor to hear us?"

"He won't hear us, Dom, we lost him about five miles back," Thomas retorted.

Dominic slowed his horse to a walk and bent over its head. A heavy sigh escaped him, and he kept his head buried in the horse's mane.

"I just can't believe they're both involved!" he finally exclaimed, lifting his head slightly.

"Well, you knew this day would come," Edward offered.

"I did? Yes, I suppose, but I didn't think this soon!" he exclaimed. "Where am I supposed to find a wife? And if I don't…" he shuddered.

The Lady Theresa was a true horror. She was not ugly, from a distance, but when you came close, oh! Her face was only pretty from far away because her features seemed enhanced. Upon close inspection, her person was so covered with paints as to make her look like a jester. And she was cruel. She took great pleasure in making her servants go to ridiculous lengths to please her.

He remembered a story that Thom had once told him about a mud puddle. Apparently, her ladyship had wanted to pluck a flower growing on the edge of the road. When a butler offered to fetch it for her, she had declined, saying she wanted to do it herself. There was, incidentally, a mud puddle in the road, right in front of the patch of grass where the flower was growing. She had demanded that the butler prostrate himself on the puddle so that she could walk over him without soiling the hem of her dress. He offered to carry her or to lay down a plank and a number of other things, but the girl had willfully gotten it into her head that she wanted him to lie down so she could walk over his back.

Dominic considered for a moment what kind of wife a woman like that would be. His pensive thoughts were broken by the sight of a pretty doe, wandering out in front of him. He paused and raised his bow, quietly, while Ed and Thom looked on from behind, excited to see him shoot it.

Suddenly, a giggle erupted from the side and, shortly thereafter, a snowball flew at his head and hit his ear.

The doe, startled, shot off, saved from certain death by a well-aimed shot at the Prince's head.

"What in the-?"

A girl's head swam before his eyes, huddled behind a tree, then disappeared again.

"Your Highness, are you alright?"

"I… yes, of course. Did you see who did that?"

"Some idiot girl. I don't know. She's behind that tree over there."

"Oh. Well, she frightened off our quarry! This won't do," he frowned, trying to regain his princely composure. He began to dismount, and started walking in the direction of the assailant.

The assailant promptly jumped out from behind the tree and took off at a run, kicking up snow and looking over her shoulder once in a while, laughing the entire time.

Dominic, very disturbed by now at her rude behaviour, gave chase and took off after her. He was shortly thereafter joined by Ed and Thom, who had stayed behind to tie up the horses.

The three young men ran after the girl, who was having the time of her life. Finally, she disappeared from view.

"Where did she go?" Dominic asked, catching his breath.

"I've no idea, sire."

"Oh, gentlemen?" a taunting voice came from a clump of trees on the edge of the snow-covered field.

"Well, catch her!" Dominic, caught off guard, exclaimed.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

As the men ran after her, Emma slid behind a rock and watched them continue their jog, thinking that she was still running ahead.

"Idiots," she murmured under her breath. "And they would have killed it, too.."

They disappeared from sight and she sank down, panting. Suddenly, she heard footsteps and turned around only to come face to face with one of them, who leered at her.

"Oh!" Just as she turned to run in the opposite direction, she found herself looking into another's eyes.

The third one, who was dressed in elegantly embroidered clothes, lazily walked up to her from the side.

"Well, she's just a baby!" the richly-dressed one exclaimed.

"Not an especially clean one, though," one of his friends muttered, wrinkling his nose in distaste at her attire, filthy from a day of labour.

Her eyes narrowed into slits as she glared at each of them in turn. Who were they to make fun of her like this? She was a lady by birth and any gentleman would have known that upon seeing her, with or without the fancy clothes and clean face. At least, that was how she tried to comfort herself when the heads of state tramped over her head into the Duchess's parlour.

She looked around, trying to find a space through which to make her escape. The richly-dressed one looked her in the eyes at last, after an inspection of her dirty and badly-attired person.

"Well, what's your name?"

This was met with an icy glower, which she bestowed upon the one addressing her.

"Oh, come on, why don't you tell us and we'll let you go."

"Or you could let me go and I won't tell you anything…"

"She does talk!" one of his friends exclaimed.

"Oh, yes, and she giggles, as well, if I recall correctly," the other added.

"She also hates pompous brats," Emma snarled. She then lunged at the well-dressed man's hat and pulled it over his face. This was quite unexpected and gave her the chance to run in the direction from whence they had come.

"Eh, you, come back here! Come back and apologise!" the men shouted as they chased her.

She ran faster through the snow and saw the men's horses standing before her. Grinning, she slipped the bridle of one into her palm and was sitting atop him in an instant. This was a magnificent stallion, about the size of her Snowflake. She kicked his sides and they were off. The last thing she heard was the shouts of the men, trying to catch up and yelling at her, before the wind filled her ears completely.

"There now, go back to your master," she told the horse lovingly after dismounting a fair distance away. "Go back, dear, and don't let him work you too hard. You deserve better than to be worked to the bone," she smiled.

Having seen the horse begin its trot back, Emma started her walk towards the palace. This had been a welcome diversion for the day, while the Duchess and Maria had gone into town for the jewels to match their new gown. However, it was now late afternoon and she did not want any of her friends to get in trouble for looking the other way while she ran off.

"I was a magnificent thing, too, once," she sighed to nobody in particular. "I don't deserve to be worked so hard, either."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"What… eh… was… ah… that!" Dominic finally panted as the girl and his horse disappeared from view.

"Could you believe the nerve! Your horse, sire," Edward lamented.

"Yes, my horse. My horse which will throw her off before she's gone two metres!" he shouted at the trees.

"She did go two metres, Dom, and then some. And she looked well in control to me," Thom pointed out.

Just as Dominic was about to shoot him a dirty look, the horse ran back into the clearing and towards its owner.

"Well, at least she had the decency to return it," Ed smiled.

"Who was she?" Dominic wondered.

"Some idiot peasant girl, Dom. They're common in these parts, you know," Thom added. He then laughed at his own joke.

"I swear, if I meet her again, I'll strangle her."

"Good luck with that, Dom. She'll probably beat you to it," Thom smirked.

In his own mind, Dominic thought that Thom was probably right. Some spitfire…

A/N: Oh, it's getting better, isn't it? Now that you properly get to meet the prince, it's more complex. Are you enjoying it? Hate it? Love it? Let me know, so I can amend or promote whatever is needed. The first of the gifts mentioned in the title is coming up, so check back soon. I will have it up as quickly as possible.

Thank you to my reviewers. You make me feel warm and fuzzy inside!

Titania