Chapter 1. Reflections
Alexandria Davidovich looked up from her desk to catch her young charge day dreaming yet again. She knew she should scold her. Samantha's work had gone downhill consistently since her companion had been sent off to school. The two had been fiercely competitive: Who could get it done faster; Who would get the higher score. It was a friendly rivalry, one reminiscent of the relationship Alexis had with her cousin Stefan, before he too was sent away to school.
Alexis shuddered of the thought of that school and what it might do to eight year old Nikolas. She remembered clearly the change in her cousins. Stavros had gone from a fun loving boy, with a bit of a mean streak, to a menacing bully who found his fun exclusively at the expense of others. Stefan, in Alexis' opinion fared worse. He went from a shy, sensitive, loving and loyal boy, to a closed, cold young man. Nikolas was much more like his uncle, than his late father, and she worried.
Alexis made a silent vow to admonish Samantha if she did not return to her work before Alexis glanced up again, but instead Samantha startled her by crying out and running to the window.
"Cousin! We've company!"
"And what, pray tell, does that have to do with you?"
"Well," she answered slowly, "nothing I suppose. Except that Aunt's away." A hint of a smiled touched Sam's lips, but vanished at Alexis' arched eyebrow. Samantha quietly returned to her desk and her sums. A full two minutes passed before she raised her head again. "There were three motor cars. Do you think there will be a ball?"
Samantha was obsessed with balls. In her lifetime she could recall three. One when she was little more than a toddler. She sat in a window seat and watched the grand couples enter. That night she fell asleep to the most beautiful music she had ever heard. At six she and five year old Nikolas ventured down to the balcony and spied the festivities until Uncle Stefan caught them and sent them to bed in disgrace. The third was only days after her last birthday, but she didn't like to remember that one.
"With the lady of the house gone? That's highly unlikely." Alexis tutted. "Kindly finish your arithmetic before luncheon arrives."
Once again the child returned to her work, with only the smallest of sighs. It pained Alexis to see Samantha so in love with a world she would never be part of. Sam was never physically mistreated, Alexis saw to that, but there was little she could do to guard the girl against Helena's cruel tongue and twisted mind games.
It was unusual, Alexis had to admit, for there to be guests without Helena there to play hostess. She caught herself craning toward the window. Samantha was right there were three cars in front of the main entrance. You're as bad as the child, Alexis chastised herself. It's nothing to do with you, either.