To be free, that was all; to come and go at will; to laugh and to sing.

But ever the specter of royal dignity walked beside her and held her captive.
She was to wed a man on whom she looked with indifference, but wed him she must; it was written.

A toy of ambition, she was neither more nor less.

Ah, to be as her maids, not royal, but free.

Of the three new faces one belonged to the man whom she was to wed; another was a tall, light-haired man whom she had seen from her carriage; the last walked by her side.