"I'm such a fool!" Emma whimpered as she ran back towards the house. The Duchess's voice was becoming steadily more audible and Emma's nerves were steadily running thin. The heavy hunter's clothes had taken ages to get off and each second that passed was agony. Her stepmother's angry yells enhanced this torture, as she painstakingly slid out of the silk stockings. Finally, dressed in rags and appropriately covered in dirt, she ran into the house, hoping that the Duchess was not too annoyed with her absence.

The Duchess, on her part, had been calling for Emma nigh on ten minutes, and she was growing more and more angry about the girl's absence.

"Where have you been, you pathetic little ingrate?" she screeched, as her dirt-covered stepdaughter slid into her study.

"I…am…sorry, my lady," she managed, between gasps for air.

"As you should be!" the Duchess responded, regaining her usual composure and staring at her reflection in the mirror on the wall. She continued to do this and to simultaneously ignore the panting girl, until the latter finally spoke up.

"Did you want something, M'lady?" she apprehensively began.

"Yes, I did," the Duchess coldly responded, not turning to look at the person she was addressing.

There was a brief pause and then, "Today is your sixteenth birthday, Emma, is it not?"

"I…had forgotten," she finished, honestly. The truth was, when you lived in the Servants' Quarters, pretending to be a scullery maid, when you had once lived in a palace, as a lady, it was not easy to find any cause for celebration, least of all your birth. If anything, Emma often regretted her life and wondered what she, personally, could have done differently to change it.

The Duchess laughed merrily at this. "Yes, it is easy to forget when you have work to do, isn't it? I swore I would whip you into shape. Did I lie?"

"No, M'lady," she nervously responded, her eyes looking anywhere but at the cold, green ones of the Duchess.

"Maria, of all people, remembered," she thoughtfully added. "She wants to get rid of you, I think."

"M'lady, I have done no-" she began.

"Oh? I was under the impression that you insulted her this morning," she quickly countered, a wicked smile curling her lips.

Emma remained silent, her eyes fixed on the ground. She was nervous. Her life depended on the Duchess. She had never been paid as a servant, nor did she have any alternate source of income, which might enable her to pay her way for more than two days. All she had was her mother's simple things, the two remaining nuts, the hunter's costume…and the ring.

"Did you hear me, Emma?"

Startled, her head whipped up. She had been so lost in thoughts that she had completely missed her stepmother's question.

"I'm sorry, I am inattentive…"

"Yes, I had noticed. I asked whether or not you were out this afternoon."

"N-no, M'lady," Emma responded, in the quality of a startled rabbit.

"Don't lie to me!" she snarled.

"I went out briefly…only to wash Maria's things. That's all," she lied through her teeth.

"I don't care. See that you do not do it again. But this is not why I called you, Emma," she began.

"Oh?"

"I have a far more serious thing to ask you. I am not a slave driver, nor am I an unfair person. Now that you have reached your sixteenth year, I will offer you a choice: you may remain in this household as my servant. My paid servant. Or, you may leave and seek out a new position elsewhere. I am indifferent to either decision."

Emma stared, her mouth open. She was free?

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Dominic rode home, frustrated and upset. He had been bested at the hunt, which was his great talent. Then, the conqueror had disappeared, and he was made to look foolish by the little peasant girl who promptly disappeared. He was beginning to believe that the girl was a demonic imp, sent to torment him. Still, there were worse things than being insulted by a little peasant girl…

For instance, his present destination. He had received an urgent message from his father, just as he was about to set out in quest of the mysterious hunter again. He had long since given up trying to fight his father's decrees, so he now found himself riding towards the almost certain doom of some new grand idea that his father was going to use to turn him into a respectable prince.

The horse sped on, its hoofs beating against the ground viciously. Dominic again shook his head in amazement, wondering how the little girl had avoided being tossed from the horse's back and to her death. His speculations were again interrupted by the appearance of the castle over the horizon. The turrets stood against the sky, almost as if they were proud of the jagged lines they made against the blue-and-white heavens.

"That wouldn't be surprising," Dominic thought to himself. "My family loves asserting its power over everything and everybody…"

"Your Highness!" a groom yelped in surprise as the prince's horse trotted into the stables.

"Yes?" Dominic smoothly enquired, sliding down from the horse's back and adjusting the fur mantle around his shoulders.

"H-his Majesty requests an audience with you," the poor boy stammered.

"So I was told. Where is he?" he lazily drawled.

"In the throne room, Sire," the boy replied.

"Thanks," he casually remarked, leaving the boy to pat down and stable his horse. The groom could not have been happier, for the prince and his alternating moods puzzled and frightened him.

A/N: I am deeply and truly sorry for the long time between this chapter and the last, as well as the length of this particular segment. I have had prom, graduation and a slew of other business to take care of between then and now, not to mention my new job at the movie theatre! I am so grateful to my reviewers! You alone have kept me from abandoning this story and I will certainly finish it! The next chapter will be up soon.

-Titania