CHAPTER 1
Sophia swayed her arms around, desperate to find an opening. She was sinking deeper into the water, barely keeping her head afloat. Her legs kicked into action as she tried to propel herself forward, but something was pulling her down. The water was too dark, and her creamy white skin was covered in goosebumps.
“Someone… help…me…” she managed to gasp, the words barely managing to leave her throat. Her head was under water now, and all her kicking was in vain.
Sophia knew that she was going into the darkness…
And then, as though dawn had just broken after a long night of darkness, a hand grabbed her before she could sink to the bottom. She was being pulled out of the water by a pair of strong hands. They were warm against her own skin which had turned icy cold.
“You are safe now,” the voice said to her, pulling her to the shore. She squinted her eyes at the figure, trying helplessly to make out who it was, but only the silhouette was visible to her. She reached out, trying to grasp the shape, but it began to slip away from reach… further and further…
Sophia White sat up in her bed, gasping for air as she clutched her pillow in hopes for something to ground her back to into reality. Beads of sweat had formed on her forehead, and her heart was beating frantically against her chest.
It took her a few moments to calm herself down. Outside her window, the morning sun was already beginning to peak in. The darkness of night had subsided and so had all the horrors that it brought along with it.
“It was only a dream,” she reminded herself as she slowly hoisted herself out of bed. Her hands were still shaking in the aftermath of her nightmare.
At three and twenty years of age, Sophia White was no stranger to bad dreams. They were a regular visitor in her sleep — so much so that she found herself anticipating their arrival every time she drifted off to sleep each night. They were recurring, always featuring her drowning in water. Sometimes she made it out alive, other times she was not as lucky.
But despite their recurrence, they never failed to leave their impact on Sophia, and she’d be left in a frantic state each time. With shaking hands, Sophia went to open the curtains on her window and soak up the sunlight pouring in through it.
“Sunshine and a meal prepared out of love,” her mother used to always tell her when she was a child. “They have the power to solve almost any problem.”
The warmth of the sunlight served as a feeble but available replacement for the warmth that Sophia sought whenever she woke up from a bad dream, still in a vulnerable state. She let herself bathe in it for a few more moments and then went to sit at her desk.
Sophia began to scribble away inside a small black notebook that looked as though it had seen better days with its torn edges and crumbled papers. She wrote freely about what she had dreamt about, letting it all out.
It was a practice that she had started doing years ago. That little black notebook held all her worst nightmares. In her mind, she thought that if she recorded them on paper, they would not weigh so heavy on her mind.
So far, it had not worked like that, but it did not stop her from recording them anyway, for she needed an outlet for the torture she was subjected to each time she fell asleep.
“There,” she sighed, writing down the last of what she remembered from her latest nightmare. It was not meant for anyone else to read as its pages recorded her at her most vulnerable.
She dashed the notebook away in a drawer underneath her desk and let herself bask in the sunlight for a few more moments.
She had gotten the sunlight. Now all she needed was a meal prepared from love…
“There she comes,” a cheerful voice belonging to a stout lady with blonde hair, kind eyes, and bright smile said out loud. It belonged to Rose White, the Dowager Viscountess of Sawdon and Sophia’s aunt. “I was beginning to worry you would not show up this morning.”
Sophia shook her head, smiling politely as she took her place at the breakfast table.
“You know that I never miss breakfast, dear aunt,” Sophia replied.
“On regular days, that is indeed the case,” Rose noted. “However, today is not a normal day, is it?”
“Is it not?” Sophia raised one of her eyebrow in curiosity as she racked her brain for what her aunt could be referring to. “I am not sure if I follow.”
“My dear, how could you forget?” Aunt Rose clutched her proverbial pearl necklace, feigning offense. “Do you not know what time of the year it is?”
Sophia scrunched up her eyebrows, now straining really hard to remember, and then it occurred to her. Her shoulders slumped, and she sunk back further into the seat.
“Right, of course,” Sophia muttered in a dull voice. “It is the start of London Season.”
“Precisely!” Aunt Rose clapped her hands in delight. “And my dear niece is going to be in attendance for the first time in years.”
“Exciting prospect.” She attempted to feign excitement, but it only came out as dry.
Sophia kept her head down, focusing on her plate instead of opting to look up at her aunt directly. It was safe to say that she did not share the former’s enthusiasm about the Season.
