Disclaimer: I do not own the characters in Ever After. This is purely for personal reading.

Chapter 1

Le Pieu's courtyard.

Henry galloped into Le Pieu's courtyard with his Royal guards.

"Oh, please, Danielle, please forgive me", he said to himself. Oh God, I hope Le Pieu hasn't hurt you.

Danielle had freed herself from Le Pieu. She was extremely proud of herself. Her father had taught her to handle a sword quite well.

She walked into the courtyard with a smile on her face and then she saw him! It was the Prince, it was Henry. She tried to hold back the tears that were welling up in her eyes. The whole incident at the Masque came flooding back to her. How Henry had hurt her, how he chose to believe Rodmilla instead of her. "How could he have done that", she thought. He was supposed to love me!!

"Hello", Henry said, very nervously. She looked at him with a tear streaked face and said hello. She couldn't stop the tears no matter how hard she tried. They were flooding her face.

Danielle still loved him with all her heart. She never stopped loving him but she couldn't trust him anymore. Not after he hurt her so badly.

"What are you doing here"?, she asked.

"I came to rescue you", he told her very nervously. He knew how much he hurt her and was praying that she would forgive him.

"Rescue me? a commoner", she said with anger in her voice.

"Why?, Your Highness, Why, did you hurt me so? I gave you my love. I still love you, but I will never trust you again. Did you even listen to me when I came to tell you the truth? I tried twice to tell you who I am", she told him, tears streaming down her face.

"I tried at Amboise, but I just couldn't do it there because you were pouring your heart out to me and I lost my nerve. I wanted to tell you everything but I couldn't. I wanted to hold on to our love for a little while longer", she told him through her tears.

"Then at the Masque I knew that I must tell you everything, but you wouldn't let me Your Highness", she stressed. "You wouldn't let me. Do you remember"? She asked him.

"Yes", he said quietly, holding his head down, knowing that he was wrong.

"You wouldn't hear it; you refused to let me speak, no matter how hard I tried to tell you that there was something I had to say. Instead you listened to the Baroness, a person who you do not know very well, nor care for. You chose to listen to her instead of me? You chose to listen to her instead of the woman that you proclaimed to love", Danielle exclaimed.

"If you would have listened to me, you would have found out that the Baroness is my stepmother and she made me a servant in my own home for the past 10 years", she says with anger.

"You would have also known that the day I came to Amboise and cried out in pain when we kissed was because the Baroness whipped me for coming home late the night before and not because you thought I was engaged", she sobbed.

Henry is shocked and crushed to learn about her life.

"If you would have let me speak the night of the masque, you would also have found out that the Baroness locked me in a cellar and Leonardo had to come and unlock the door", she angrily tells him.

"If you would have listened, you would have found out that the only reason I dressed as a courtier that day in the courtyard was to free a servant who the Baroness sold and was going to be shipped to the Americas. A very dear servant of my father's who was like a second father to me", she yells.

"If only you would have listened to me Your Highness, you would have heard everything from me", she cries.

"No, sire, no you chose to listen to her instead of the one you supposedly love", she said with anger.

"Please call me Henry", he said to her, hoping that she would forgive him. "Danielle please, please…I love you. I am so sorry. I beg of you, please forgive me, he pleaded with her. I was a fool, an idiot. I was out of line. I never ever meant to hurt you, my stupid pride and stubbornness got in the way", he pleaded.

"I cannot call you Henry. I don't want to be too familiar with you. After all, you told me, and I quote, "Do not address me so informal Madame, I am a Prince of France, and you….are just like them"!!, she stressed with anger and sadness. "Do you remember when you said that Your Highness", she asked him?

"Yes", he quietly said, with a heartbroken look in his eyes. Danielle saw this and she felt no remorse. "Good, let him feel that way….let him feel the way I felt the night of the Masque", she thought to herself.

"Your Highness, I do love you, I will always love you because I just cannot turn my feelings on and off. I hope that, in time, I will be able to forget you and move on with my life", she coldly told him.

Henry gets down on his knees and says, "Danielle, please, I ask of you again, please forgive me. Let me make it up to you", he begged, tears started streaming down his face.

The tears were flowing freely down her face. "No Your Highness", she said through her tears. "No I cannot trust you. You broke my heart. I may have hurt your pride, but you shattered my heart into a million pieces and I do not believe that it can be mended", she sobbed.

With that, Danielle began to run away.

"Danielle, Wait"! Henry screamed, "Please wait"!!

Danielle wouldn't listen and ran way from the castle and from Henry into the woods.

She knew those woods extremely well. She knew them better than any of the Royal guards and would be able to get away from Henry, if he followed her. She had to get away from him, he hurt her so badly.

Henry collapsed on the cold dirt floor and started to cry. Wracking sobs shook his whole body. "I have lost her", he thought. The one woman who I have loved, the only woman who I have ever fell in love with in my life is now gone. He didn't want to live anymore.

Laurent watched all of this with sadness. He knew how much Henry loved Danielle. He also thought that Henry handled the whole situation badly the night of the Masque. He should have given Danielle a chance to explain herself.

"Henry has always been impulsive and immature", Laurent thought. He only hoped that the lovely Danielle would forgive the prince in time. He didn't want to be around Henry, if she didn't.

"Henry", Laurent said. "It's time to go home. You have to try and get on with your life". "Give her a few days, hopefully she will forgive you", he told the Prince.

Henry looked up with swollen eyes and said, "Laurent, she is my life and now she is gone".