“What is this?” Mina asked, her voice lower now.
Another drop landed on her, and another, and another. All around them came the pattering of rain, wetting her veil, her dress, the letter. But Mina did not move, only staring at her aunt for explanation.
“He made a gamble he should have never made. And he lost,” Aunt Emily said, sorrow in her eyes. “You’ve been promised to a foreign nobleman.”
Mina could only blink, her mind not grasping the words that spilled from her aunt’s lips. A nobleman? Her father didn’t know a nobleman, and certainly not one from a distant land.
Aunt Emily swallowed visibly. “You are to be wed within the year.”
CHAPTER 2
October 1893. London, England.
It was only five o’clock, yet dusk was already starting to settle over the cobbled streets as lamplighters moved from pole to pole, a warm glow spilling through the dim light while evening took hold of the city.
“See you soon, Miss Murray!”
Mina glanced back toward the school and caught sight of one of her young students waving as he bounded down the front steps.
“See you soon, Thomas,” she called back with a smile. But as she turned away, her heart sank at the lie. She was leaving for Transylvania tomorrow, and it was unlikely that she’d see Thomas—or any of her students—again.
As Mina weaved through the city, the scent of chimney smoke heavy in the air, she tried to think of the changes ahead as something exciting—the start of a new adventure. Yet, she couldn’t help but feel it was the end of something more than it was the beginning of something else.
All the time and care she’d put into her studies, working countless hours through her school years, with the goal ofbecoming a teacher. All the time and care she’d put into her students, getting to know them and their individual ways of learning, their sharp minds and joyous laughter. All that time, only to spend a mere four years in her role before it had all come to an end.
In the months since that day in May, she’d begun to mourn the loss of this life and the impact she could be making on her students if she were staying in London—time that would now be spent at a castle in the mountains of Transylvania. Her gut twisted at the thought of being locked away with nothing to bide her time but attending to her wifely duties.
She took a deep breath of the smog-laced air, imagining instead the crisp mountain air, and reminded herself that there was much she didn’t know about Castle Dracula—and that ignorance might yet offer opportunity. Perhaps there were children in the castle she could educate, the sons and daughters of the servants. But would they speak English fluently enough for such lessons to be of use? It seemed unlikely. She supposed she would be expected to learn Romanian—she’d managed French in her schooling years, but learning a language was one thing, and having enough command of it to teach was quite another.
As she turned onto her street, the familiar red-bricked townhouses loomed shoulder to shoulder, their narrow windows gazing down at her like eyes, watching as she made her way home for the last time. A few doors ahead, Lucy stepped out of her townhouse with a cloak overtop of a cornflower blue eveninggown, her golden hair pinned up elegantly like a halo around her face.
“There you are!” Lucy said, joy brightening her face as she walked down the handful of steps to the pavement. “How was your last day?”
Mina exhaled, trying her best to smile as she moved out of the way of a passing pedestrian. “Bittersweet.”
Lucy frowned, an uncommon expression for her. “Yes, I’ll bet. I know you care deeply for those children,” she said, “but they’ll be alright.” Then, with a glint of amusement in her voice, she said, “It’s me you should fret over. Your students will get another teacher, but I won’t get another Mina.”
Mina laughed, rolling her eyes at Lucy’s melodrama. “You will be perfectly fine, my dear.”
Hooves clacked against the cobblestone as a carriage passed by, sending a smattering of fallen leaves swirling around their ankles.
“I sincerely doubt that,” Lucy replied. “Oh! Have I told you I am to see Arthur this evening?” She reached out, grasping onto Mina’s arm enthusiastically.
“You did,” Mina said with a smirk. “In fact, it’s all you’ve been talking about for days.”
Lucy laughed, the sound light and airy despite the autumn gloom surrounding them. “Well, you can hardly blame me. He’s been away for ages.” A bashful smile tugged at her lips as she fidgeted with the lace cuff at her sleeve, likely lost in thoughts oftheir time together. After a moment of contemplation, she said, “I do hope he missed me.”
“How could anyone not?” Mina said, a quiet dread settling about her shoulders like a heavy shawl. In the years she and Lucy had known each other, they’d scarcely been apart for more than a week or two—yet that would be another thing to change tomorrow. Mina forced a smile to her face and pushed away her inner turmoil. “I wonder if tonight will be the night he proposes.”
“Oh, don’t tease me!” Lucy said, placing a hand over her heart. “Let us say no more of it. If I dwell on the subject, I shall be convinced he does not feel as I do.”
“Not feel as you do?” Mina shot her a look of humorous reproach. “Has it not been less than a month since you made his acquaintance?”
“Yes, but a month is plenty of time to know,” Lucy said dreamily.
“To know?” Mina asked, lifting a brow in question.
“To know that one is inlove.” Mina scoffed, yet Lucy carried on. “Oh, you just haven’t met your someone yet, darling. But when you do, you’ll understand. You’ll be swept off your feet so swiftly that you shall hardly know what has befallen you.” They came to a stop in front of Mina’s townhouse, the residence which would soon stand empty once her aunt returned to Yorkshire. Lamplight spilled through the front window, illuminating the damp leaves littering the front step.
