Chapter 1
Memorable meeting

It was just another simple, exasperated sigh. "Oh mother, not this again,"

"I told you that I'm not forcing you, Arianna," Lady Elizabeth replied calmly, leaving the parchment on her daughter's desk. "But you must note that if you do not take study seriously, no man will ever ask you to be their wife."

"Mother, please," Arianna sighed, rolling her eyes. "What men are looking for is called either a slut or a little wife that is supposed to stay at home and make them meals. Since I'm not in any of the two categories, chances of me getting married to a man you dream of are fairly slim."

"Which is exactly why I'm leaving this in your possession," Lady Elizabeth replied. "Studying is the key to life. If you succeed and impress a man with more than just your beauty, you will find a man who is a chevalier. Unless your father finds you a husband first, that is." She calmly brushed her fingers through her daughter's hair before leaving the room.

Sigh escaped Arianna's lips. "I'm not beautiful, mother. If anyone is, that is Victoria." Sadly, her mother was far away to hear it. Besides, even if she were to hear it, Arianna would probably have to keep her mouth shut for good. Or bad, for that matter.

Therefore, she just lifted the piece of parchment and started reading through it. "Yet another set of rules, I see," Arianna murmured bitterly, before throwing it away. "Give it to Victoria, next time. I believe she'll be the lucky one to actually have use of it."

Again, Lady Elizabeth wasn't there to hear her daughter talking. In a way, it was a nice turn of events, Arianna admonished to herself. Getting up from her bed, she walked out on the terrace to get a sigh of the first winter day for the year.

There was no snow and there was no ice, which is exactly why Arianna hated Italy. Or simpler to say, Sicily; the small island in the south. It was never cold there. She couldn't understand her father's sudden desire to move to that country. British Empire was where they belonged. The north and the snowy mountains and cold lands, but no. Father just had to go and make a decision to marry Victoria to a Sicilian noble and then move the entire family from Sunderland right to this… south… country.

However, that was all right, in a way.

The moment Arianna reached the age of eighteen she was going to return. She was going to return home and finally confess her feelings to Louis, their former neighbor.

Just… two and a half years seemed such a long time to wait.

"Ari, want to come shopping with me?" Victoria shouted excitedly from her own balcony. Raising an eyebrow at her sister, Arianna made her decision for good. She should at least pretend that it is all right. Otherwise, they may see through her plans.

"Just let me change first," she shouted back, returning to her room and closing the doors behind her. Choosing a random rose dress, Arianna was prepared.

Her five-year-older sister was standing right in front of her room already, trying to hide the overwhelming excitement. Arianna sighed. "I will not keep you company if you are going to jump like that."

Victoria grinned. "Can you blame me?"

Arianna just shook her head. "Suppose not."

"Where are you two going?" Victoria's fiancé, Daniel Reno asked, approaching to hug her. He was a slender young man with dark hair and aristocratic features and he was very much smiling at them.

Arianna grimaced. Victoria smiled.

"We shall go shopping. Willing to join us?"

"I cannot allow two beautiful ladies, such as yourselves, to go alone through the unknown area," Daniel said. He was happy, obviously. He had gotten a bonus. Besides marrying a well-known woman from British noble family, she was also a beauty with style. Long, dark hair yet curly and strings from her face removed behind in a beautiful bun from which waves of hair were falling out. In a red dress, Arianna and Daniel could agree on one thing. No one had ever seen a more beautiful woman than Victoria.

Arianna winced as Daniel suddenly offered her a hand as well, but didn't refuse. Act natural, she reminded herself all the time. She still didn't feel as natural around Daniel, though.

Soon enough, they were in the center of the town. Carriage left them in front of a small market place from where their shopping started. Victoria was obsessed with buying shoes. Not ever did Arianna see a shoe-lover bigger than her sister.

"Try them on, Ari!" Victoria would say cheerfully, pushing a shoe on Arianna's foot and Daniel would hold Arianna from falling, just to help his little fiancé back when they were still in Britain.

Nevertheless, this time, Arianna was smarter. "While you settle on shoes, sister, I would like to search for something more… educational," she said calmly.

"Oh…" Victoria seemed disappointed. "All right."

"Are you going alone?" Daniel asked softly.

Arianna raised a brow. It's not as if they brought guardians along. "I'll be alright on my own, Daniel. You can ask sister if you don't believe me." While Daniel turned to look at Victoria, Arianna used the chance to slip away.

She could hear her sister's high-pitched laugh but she didn't look back. Even kidnapping was better than trying on thousands of shoes in one day – if Sicily even had that many.

After five minutes only, Arianna regretted her decision, though. She forgot, but her location wasn't Sunderland. It was Sicily. Now, she was lost. Strange enough, for some reason, she felt no fear or devastation she usually would. Probably her senses have changed ever since a part of her remained in Britain with Louis. The fear, the uneasiness, the devastation, it was all left behind as well, leaving only cunningness and scheming-ness. Now, she was free from all the shackles until she went back.

It felt good.

Therefore, without any trace of fear, she continued walking down the market street as if she knew where she was going. Soon, she ran onto a small restaurant.

"Hm… money is with me, so why not?" she mumbled, entering inside. The very same moment, she wished she didn't. The place was more of a pub than a restaurant. It was loud and filled with cigar smoke she hated and most of the costumers were older men. Regardless, she walked in, sitting by the bar.

"May I get a cup of tea, please?" she asked to the woman working in badly accented Italian. That language was never her strong point, but she could speak it decently enough to communicate with people.

The woman raised a brow only, but after a few minutes, the tea was there.

"Ten," the woman said.

Arianna nodded, giving the money. It pissed her off to see how people were welcoming her. There were either cold glares coming from a few present females, as well as the looks of lust coming from some of the older man. Others did their best in neglecting her.

Arianna sighed. She had never expected a warm welcome anyway.

"You shouldn't be here."

The words in English language, whispered in her ears, made her stiffen. She expected to see Daniel, or someone else she knew and socialized with, but it wasn't anyone she ever saw.

In fact, it was a person whose face was hidden by a dark hood.

She blinked, boldly putting down her tea. "Says who?" she asked. If her father sent just another spy after her, she was going to-

"Says I," man simply said, ordering beer for himself. "Right now, you are supposed to be in the market, trying on shoes with your sister."

His English was perfect, she noticed. He spoke it as if he was from Britain himself. But then why was he sitting in a pub with her?

"Who are you? How do you know that?" she demanded.

"Don't worry." Man gave her a crooked grin. How she had noticed it, she didn't know. "I'm a friend. I just happen to know that within next few minutes you are going to leave this pub and get into trouble."

Despite herself, Arianna arrogantly asked, "Are you a fortune teller, perhaps?"

"You can say so." He continued grinning. "However, I'd advise you to go on the back door. If you walk out on the front ones now, you'll never be able to return home. Your British home, I mean."

Not moving her eyes away from the man, her determination cringed. She wanted answers. However, she could tell this man was much like her father: talking in riddles, never specifying what they are talking about and secretly manipulating people. She decided not to fall for the trap. "I have no idea what you are talking about. And unless you are a stalker or a spy, you should have no knowledge about my sister and me."

His already creepy grin turned even creepier as scars on his face became obvious. "I only gave you a friendly advice, Miss Harland. Arrivederchi," he said.

In a blink of an eye, the man was already at the exit door. Something on the inside urged Arianna to follow him, but realizing that it was exactly what the man wanted, she stayed in the pub, continuing to drink her tea. So he wanted her to leave on the back door, didn't he? Well it was not going to happen.

Back door always represented a problem. It was either drunken people or bad crowd, so she wasn't going to be stupid enough and go there to look for trouble. But then again, he perhaps wanted her to leave on the front door so he precisely told her to go on the back knowing she wouldn't listen. However, it was silly. Whichever she'd do, she'd probably end up doing what he wanted. Silently slipping a curse under her breath, she decided for the front door.

Trouble; she'll deal with it ever so courageously.

She snorted as no one actually approached her, grinning at her inner victory. Although she still had no idea of where she was heading, she felt like she couldn't make a mistake.

Until someone grabbed her by the elbow tightly, that is. Arianna gasped, trying to shake off whoever it was. The scary face looking at her didn't help.

"Release me!" she screamed in Italian, grabbing the attention of many people in her surroundings. They probably found her shouting strange. After all, she couldn't remember how to yell 'let me go' in Italian.

It all happened too fast. First, the man pulled her along to a small street aside, putting a knife under her throat. Then another two came out of nowhere, each holding a hyperactive and a struggling boy in their hands. At the same time, everyone on the street were looking away and retreating, obviously in fear from whoever was holding her.

"We've got them, boss! That's three!" one holding a redhead shouted. Instead of fear on the boy's face, there was only annoyance. Arianna couldn't help but grin once he and the second boy, the one with blonde hair, did a same movement, which released them successfully, and then they grabbed the shirts of their captors and set them over their heads. They kicked them after that, also.

The blonde one sent a reassuring grin at Arianna as he charged forward and did something (she could not see) that released Arianna from the man's hold. She stepped away instantly before the fight emerged.

No matter how much she wanted to escape at that moment, her heart was pumping strongly, and excitement filled her while watching the two boys of her age beating up three larger and far older men.

"Sorry about that, Don Walsh! Three to one!" the blonde one grinned, throwing a high five at the redhead while his grin directed at the men lying on the ground.

"Che… you were poor again. Better luck next time, idiots," the redhead said. Slowly, both turned towards Arianna.

She blinked in confusion once the blonde one approached. Dust was all over him, from head to toe, along with a few scratches on his face and his hair was a real mess. "You alright?" he asked in soft voice. Even his eyes were strange in a way. They were blue, just like hers.

"I'm alright," Arianna confirmed. "Thank you for your help, but-"

"Better stop that bleeding," the blond said with a smile.

"What-" 'What bleeding?' was the question Arianna intended to ask, but gave up, quickly realizing herself. Blood was flowing down from her neck, ruining her dress. "Oh…" she sighed in realization, accepting the handkerchief he was giving. "I never even noticed…"

"Stupid woman," the redhead commented, which instantly set Arianna on fire.

"You have no right to insult me!" she shouted.

"Who says?" he bitterly hissed back at her.

"I say!" Arianna shouted, completely forgetting about the cut on her neck again. "I've done nothing to insult you so you cannot insult me!"

"Oh, really? So you didn't just allow yourself to be caught by a moron?" spat the redhead.

"G!" the blond sounded.

"You can't allow something to happen if you don't know it's going to happen!" Arianna spat back, though a small voice in the back of her head reprimanded her. She strictly ignored it.

"Miss, please," the blonde called again and Arianna turned to him. "No need to argue. Your wound might infect if you leave it that way."

Arianna just shook her head, using the handkerchief to wipe the blood away. "Thank you. Just let your friend know he have a long tongue. A too long one, for that matter." She didn't care if it sounded wrong. Again, Italian wasn't her strong point. Regardless, no one had right to insult her like that. It was rude.

"ARI!" a shriek came from who appeared to be her sister. Arianna sighed. She intended to meet with her just after she wiped her dress, but apparently, Victoria and Daniel heard of the ruckus and came to check up on what was going on.

"What happened to you?" Daniel asked in worried voice.

"Just got in a rough trouble," Arianna said bitterly. "Fortunately, those-" she turned to show on the blond and the redhead that helped her, but she couldn't see them anywhere. "Never mind that. What matters is that I'm all right."

"You're not all right!" Victoria shrieked. "That's one nasty cut you have there!"

Arianna shrugged. "It doesn't hurt."

"Ari!"

"It's true. It doesn't hurt." Arianna shrugged.

"Do you know anything about who attacked you?" Daniel asked.

Arianna looked at him, about to say something, but then she remembered. "It was some Don Walsh or something like that." Daniel only nodded, and his face was impassive.

"Let's get you home, Ari," Victoria murmured, tightly hugging her little sister. Arianna quietly followed her lead towards the carriage.