London, 1838

One year later

One would think the death of a parental figure would damper one's happiness and the general sense of insolence. But Colette Brighton seemed to rise above it to be more persistent than her usual self.

"Sophia, Sophia, Sophia! Can we please go to the theatre? Please! I really want to see a play. Sister, do not be so cruel. Do not be like an evil villain of a tragic story, like Shylock was in the Merchant of Venice." Colette tugged at Sophia's hands, growing more aggressive by the second.

"Shylock? Did you go through my books again, to read that play?" Suspicion and astonishment drugged Sophia's voice. Colette's eyes immediately flooded with guilt and her cheeks reddened. She tried to hide it by flashing her sister an innocent expression; widened eyes with an over-exaggerated smile.

So, she had.

"I have told you to keep your hands off my books!" Sophia stopped walking. She yanked her hands from Colette's to place them on her hips.

"You have so many, like the number of droplets in the ocean. Why can't I borrow them? And is it so wrong of me to ask to see what I read come alive in a theater?"

Daggers shot out of Sophia's blue eyes. "Colette. Stop being so dramatic. Like droplets of water in an ocean?" She snorted delicately. "That is not the point here. You know that Father has been losing a good amount of our fortune! You saw all but one of our horses be carted away last week. It is only some of Mother's savings now that makes sure we have a sizable permanent dowry on our backs, some money for a few servants, and all the other general purposes. That money and the money we get from the rent from our tenants on our land is the reason we have food in our stomachs and clothes on our back or have you forgotten?" She pinched the skirts of Colette's new dress, raising her eyebrows.

Pursing her lips before continuing, now to herself more than Colette, Sophia said, "But even that has reduced, as father has gambled away some the land our tenants are living on, according to the latest report from our accountant."

She shook her head, her braid whipping over her neck to hang down her back. "So, you do understand that we cannot spend the precious money we have on a play, don't you? I have told you this many, many times. I cannot continue to repeat myself."

"Please."

The soft plea twisted Sophia's heart around thorns, and she almost succumbed to her sister's demands. Almost. Her sister was persistent, she would give her that.

But the times of being a sister to Colette were past and now she had to think like a mother. She prodded Colette in front of her as they went to the market. The roar of voices and animals could slowly be heard, indicating they were nearing their destination.

"Colette, I said no. You do recall that your governess departed the week before because we could not pay her salary? If we spend more money on useless nonsensical things, it is less for the servants. We are already buying our own food like common ladies, instead of having a servant do it for us. Do you wish for the one maid now acting like a terrible cook, Jenkins-our butler, our carriage driver who also acts as a footman and the nursemaid to leave as well? Do you fancy feeding our little sister from your bosom?"

Colette sulked, tilting her sullen face up to hers. At Sophia's heated glare she bent it down again and mumbled, "At least buy me some threads for my embroidery, something for myself. I am using all of your instruments to learn skills that you deem necessary for marriage, like the piano and-"

"It is not like a piano is perishable!" Sophia's voice had raised to quite a volume and the people near her, also heading towards the market, raised their eyebrows. Breathing out, she calmed herself down. "Stop being ridiculous."

"Well, it is yours! Is it too much to ask for something of my own? You bought a book the week before after all! It is not necessary for you. You have so many!"

"That was my gift to me, for my birthday! It was one book."

"I am asking for threads. Embroidery is a task that we are supposed to possess for being an 'ideal' woman for marriage, as you have pointed out countless times."

Colette had a point, but...

"You have been using too much. This is the third time this month you have asked me. Why can't you understand what is at stake here? We will be living on the streets then, if we continue to squander money like this." Sophia dropped down on her knees right on the sidewalk, her washed-out skirts billowing around her.

"Colette, please. I know that you want it, but some other time, all right?" Sophia lovingly pinched her sister's rosy cheeks.

"So, it is all right for you to buy something but not me."
"I bought you the dress you are wearing right now, although you didn't need it! Stop manipulating me by making this about me-" Sophia hissed.

Colette didn't listen to her, cutting her off and spitting a final, "What a marvelous mother you are to me. Just like Mama." She knew she had made a mistake the minute she said it and she shook her head, gaping at Sophia.

Sophia turned her head away, trying to control the tears that immediately sprung to her eyes. "I am sorry I cannot be like Mama. I am sorry I can no longer play with you and sit in the sun and talk for endless hours about princes and kings. I am sorry I cannot be like how you want. I am trying my best."

"I know. I-"

Sophia silenced her with a wave of her hand. She got up and brushed her skirts. "No, you really don't. You do not understand at all, Colette. Let us go home. I do not want to be here anymore in your company. "

"Sophia...I am sorry-"

"I don't want to hear it. I don't." Her outburst caused several curious glances to be thrown their way. Steady breaths, she reminded herself.

"Come. Let us go home. I will come to the market later."

"I am sorry, sister. Please let us get the vegetables and bread and then go home." Colette looked near to tears and wanting to avoid a scene, Sophia brushed her sister's cheeks.

"All right. Let's go." Clutching Colette's hand in hers, the two sisters made their way to the market.

The next hour was spent buying a variety of vegetables and fruits, ranging from potatoes to peas, grapes to rhubarb. The market was clamoring with noise. It was filled with vendors screaming for people to buy their products. Horses carrying carts of rice and grain trotted about. The buildings sagged on their bases and their colors peeled away at the edges. The air had a faint smell of sewage.

Most proper, well-bred ladies would have run screaming in the other direction, but Sophia had gotten used to it.

When the servants had slowly started leaving the Brighton household, soon after Lillian was not around to manage the accounts and her husband's squandering of the money, Sophia was left to buy the essentials by herself. Sophia had not realized how economical her mother had been, and had not expected how much everything would crumble after she was gone.

She did not realize she would have to do the servants' work herself.

Those first few weeks, Sophia struggled. Once, she had bought seemingly fresh broccoli, for it to only result in herself and Colette to vomit for a week as it had been rotten when they had consumed it. Another time, the cherries had seemed succulent and ripe outside, for it to only be a mass of festering black on the inside. Her stomach panged in the reminder of those horrid days, wishing for it to never be put through such an ordeal again.

An apple suddenly hit her on the face and then dropped to the ground next to her feet. Clutching her basket in one hand and her head in the other, Sophia whipped around to see a guilty Colette.

"I am sorry, sister. It was an accident." Collette anxiously shifted her weight from one foot to another.

"You don't play with the food!" Sophia bent down to pick up the apple, while the vendor grumbled behind her. But as she reached down for it, her foot snagged the edge of her skirts and she tripped forward. The basket tumbled from her hand and its contents fell everywhere: stray carrots, potatoes, peaches, oranges, and bread making a colorful ensemble on the cobbled streets.

"Oh, dear lord," Sophia gasped, her mouth agape.

The crowd bustled about, making it hard to see where the food had rolled to, and it had rolled about in every direction imaginable. Colette scurried about trying to pick up as much as she could. Sophia bent down as well, collecting the cheeky run-away peaches and oranges.

As she reached for the loaf of bread, a woman stomped hard on her foot, crushing her nimble fingers. Sophia let out a small yelp, drawing back her burning hand. She cradled the injured arm to her chest, collapsing onto the ground to press her back to the vendor's cart.

"My lady?" A hand suddenly came in front of her and she gratefully placed her uninjured one in it. She pulled herself up to meet a handsome young man, dressed in a rich doublet. Piercing grey eyes, edged with coal looked down from either side of a sharp nose, amused.

The wretched brute was laughing at her expense! She pulled herself up taller, tilted her chin proudly and straightened her shoulders.

"Thank you, Lord..."

"Lord Darius Shaw. Son of the Duke of Cambury." He raked his gaze down the length of her body, and then said, realizing she was a noblewoman, "Pleasure to meet you, Lady...?"

"Lady Sophia Brighton, my lord. Daughter of my Lord Conway." She curtsied clumsily, clutching the skirts with only her uninjured hand. What was a wealthy Duke's son doing here in the market?

"Are you all right, Ms. Brighton?"

Still, that condescending tone lingered as if he was poking fun at her for his amusement. The hair on her arms bristled, preparing her for a severe tongue lashing. Yet, she could not reprimand a duke's son, so she simply bit her lips and said, "Yes, thank you for your assistance."

Noticing the bread near her foot, now in crumbs, as many had trampled on it, he produced one from his satchel, thrusting it towards her. "Take it."

She shoved it away. "I am not in the need of your charity, my lord."

"I said take it. I had bought it to eat if I were hungry on my adventures here in the market, but you need it more than I." His sudden icy tone, accompanied by his flashing eyes, caused her heart to jump. Immediately, his demeanor made her feel uneasy.

She took the bread from his hands, tilting her head in grace.

"You were here at the right time to help me in my misfortune. May I ask what a Duke's son is doing here in the market?" The question came out before she could stop it and she bit her tongue.

She had to control her running mouth!

His eyes widened in surprise at her direct query, but to his credit, he did not make a large spectacle of it.

"You may." He grinned, flashing her his protruding teeth. His hand dipped into his satchel again and he produced a silver dagger, the wood handle engraved with intricate designs. "I came to fetch this, which I had custom made. I could have ordered a servant to do so, but I wanted to be the first bearer of this deadly piece. I didn't want a filthy low born's hands all over it."

Sophia wasn't sure if she imagined it, but it had looked like briefest glint of malice had flitted across his features for one moment, with its edge had been as sharp as the dagger's when he said those words. Her chest tightened.

Putting his finger in the small hole at the bottom, he whirled it around for show, like a peacock strutting its feathers.

"It is indeed beautiful." It seemed like the most pleasant thing to say.

"It is as beautiful on the outside but deadly too. I think you, Ms. Brighton, resemble this blade quite a bit with your sharp tongue and beauteous looks." He sucked on the inside of his cheek and winked at her.

Sophia's cheek reddened in embarrassment. He had clearly meant it as a compliment, but the way he kept ogling her face and then her chest and her face again made her feel discomfort. The occasional glances he shot Colette as well, who had come to stand by her, caused uneasiness to settle in her stomach. As subtly as possible, she tucked a surprisingly silent Colette behind her, hiding her with her skirts.

"Thank you, my lord. I must be leaving now. Thanks once again for the bread," she raised it, "and for your assistance." The throbbing in her other hand had slightly lessened, but a quick glance down showed her knuckles had been bruised a nasty red.

He bowed and kissed the hand that clutched the bread. "Of course, my lady. Though, I do not know what a beautiful woman such as yourself is doing in such a dreary place. It does not fit you."

Sophia chose not to answer that, but just smiled becomingly once more. Putting the bread in the basket, she gave him one last smile and dragged Colette with her. They both left the market. Only when they departed, did Sophia truly felt like she could breathe, and it was certainly not because of the crowd. The Duke's son seemed nice enough, but Sophia could not shake the sense of trepidation she felt.

Colette tugged at her hand. "I think that man liked you. He kept looking at you."

Sophia raised her eyebrows. "Oh? Is that so?"

"Yes, indeed, sister. He reminded me of the prince in the story you told me, with his dark hair and grey eyes."

Sophia cast one last look back towards the market. "I don't think he is my prince, Colette. Come on now, enough talk about princes. Let us go home."

Although she tried to forget him and their encounter, the feeling of uneasiness stayed with her the entire ride home and those grey, grey eyes haunted her so. 

A/N: This is essentially a chapter to introduce my MC(s) and other important character's *wink wink* . Hope you liked it!

Readers! Thank you for taking your time to read this chapter! Be sure to vote, comment and share it with others! Every single thing means the world to me! I love you all!