Chapter one

"No, I would not like to dance with you. In fact, I don't even want to speak with you. I find you a pathetic suck-up trying to get my father's money!" Edna said for the third time to the third suitor. She watched as he walked away, cheeks blushing from embarrassment at having been insulted by a woman. He'd had the unfortunate thought that he would have been more successful in asking her to dance than the previous two suitors. Edna turned to glare at a more skittish suitor that was trying to work up the courage to speak with her. He immediately changed direction for a nearby lady. Edna scanned the crowd with a cold stare.

The man watched Edna through the holes of a black raven's mask. He took in her outfit, a pink Parisian bouffant gown with pearl pink elbow gloves, and noted how all of the suitors seemed to be focused on her. She also had on a pink hat with a face veil that matched her gloves. Her brown eyes locked with his and she stared at him long enough to glare. Perfect.

Edna wrinkled her nose as a foul smell swept through the air near her. She turned to see a disgusting man ogling her body. She curled her lip and turned her head up to show her disapproval. The man didn't take the hint. "Ah, may I ask if the lovely lady would care for a dance?" Edna whipped around and glared. "You," She said, poking his chest with her fan. "are the most disgusting man I have ever seen! Be gone you foul creature before I have my father remove you with force." The man grabbed her outstretched hand and kissed it, leaving a patch of wet skin behind. "You—" Edna swung her hand through the air. The man caught it in his other hand and brought it too to his lips. "Let me go! I demand that you release me!" He pulled her close and groaned in her ear, his words slurred from over drinking. "I can't stop myself. The rumors were true. You are the most beautiful lady in Beara," His eyes darkened, making her shrink back in fear. "and I will have you one way or the other." The man swept her away and through the doors to a dark hallway.

Once alone, he shoved her against the wall. She attempted to yell, but his lips crushed against hers, cutting off the scream at her lips. She shoved him away and turned to run. He grabbed her dress and pulled, causing it to tear. "My dress! That was my mother's!" The man pulled her near him. "I think it looks better by itself."

"My, my, that's no way to speak to a lady." The man and Edna turned to see the man with the raven's mask standing in the shadows. "Ah get outta here, I grabbed 'er first." The man turned back to Edna. "Let me go! I am nobody's!" She shrieked, pounding his back with her tiny fists.

The man in black tapped the former guy's shoulder. The drunkard reared back, confused as to how he moved so fast. "Hey, how did you—" He turned back to see the mysterious man back where he was before.

Edna took this opportunity to scream for help. "Help! Somebody help me!"

"I have no idea what you are talking about." The masked man appeared behind the wasted man again and quickly applied pressure to his neck. "Though it is clear that you need to rest." He said as the man slumped to the ground.

The mysterious man looked at Edna. When she saw him staring, she tried to look poised, calm, and in command. However, her dressed was torn to an almost unrecognizable state and her dirty blonde hair, which was previously in a half-up bun, was falling out in messy clumps, making her seem anything but commanding. She glared at him nonetheless. "I could have handled it on my own." The man bowed to hide his smile. "Of course my lady." He straightened up. "But a noble person, like yourself, shouldn't have to worry with these..." He motioned to the man on the ground. Edna didn't say anything. The man took his jacket off and offered it to her, which she reluctantly accepted.

A minute later, a short plump looking man, Mr. McCravin, came running down the hall towards them. "Aednat, there you are! I heard you scream and have been looking everywhere for you." Mr. McCravin noticed the state of things at that moment. "Good God! What happened here?!" He looked at her dress. "What happened to you?!" The man with the mask stepped up to the father. "I can explain that, sir." McCravin turned towards the revealed man. "And who might you be?" The man took his mask off. "Sebastian," He said. "Sebastian Michaelis."