Prologue:
Elise watched as the carriage came up the drive her excitement building with each step that the two horses took. Father was finally home. He had been gone far too long, missing two of her birthdays and Christmas. He had written plenty of letters and sent more presents than he usually did when he was away. Elise knew he would be surprised at how much she had grown in the last two years. She was now seventeen, no longer a child in the eyes of society but a woman.
The carriage stopped and Elise saw that is contained not only her father but also three other people. "Papa your home" Elise cried out in her excitement as her father exited the carriage and turned to the woman that had sat at his side. "Elise, this is my new wife Lady Sora and her daughters Allegra and Helena" her father said as he stepped out and reached in for Sora's hand suddenly Elise felt her world crash to a halt as she stared at the three new comers. "Lady Sora, Allegra, and Helena welcome" was all that she could say.
Elise stared at the ceiling in her room. 'What had her father done, why now after all this time, and why had he not written to warn her.' The questions rolled around in her head. She would not let this effect her negatively. She had always wanted sisters and she had longed for a mother these last ten years.
Over the next few days Elise learned how her father and Lady Sora had met, that Allegra was 19 and Helena was 17, and that her new family was not what she would have hoped for. Lady Sora seemed distraught at having another child in the house especially one not her own. Allegra took after her mother and saw Elise as an unwanted sister. Helena in turn followed the led of the other women, rather than form her own opinion of how she felt towards her new stepsister.
Elise stared at the castle thru her bedroom window. The castle made her think of her mother. The happy memories of days when she was young and her mother had taken them both to the castle. Elise's mother, the daughter of a titled land owner, had once been the companion and best friend to the queen. Elise had been given free reign of much of the castle. Those days had ended ten years ago after her mother had fallen deathly ill. It had been a difficult time for her a young girl who was left with only her father to take care of her, he seemed to busy traveling on long trips, which kept him far from home for many months even a year at a time. Elise was left in the care of the servants. In turn the servants had become the family that she needed.
The weeks rolled by as Elise and her new family got to know each other. One day her father announced he would be once again be leaving and did not know when he would returned. That day a dark cloud seemed to form over Elise's heart. She would be alone with people she barely knew, but she would not let on about her feelings of unease that came with these new women her father had brought to the house.
It was then that the royal messenger came to with the news of her father's death. He had been killed carrying out a mission for the king. Elise had never know that her father was one of the top spies for the crown, she had always assumed that he was a very wealthy merchant, with hints of a title long forgotten in the family. Elise also learned that day that Lady Sora and her daughters would never see her as family, for it was that day that Lady Sora banished Elise to the attic room and began ordering Elise about as a servant.