London, 1670

Alexis Gray was strangely optimistic for a runaway. She was clever, no doubt, but the fact that she was a romantic at heart was her weakness. She had heard horror stories about what happened to young women who walked the streets this late at night. She believed every word, but she never believed that she would someday be in the same situation.

The men were mad and drunk. Lexi hadn't been on the streets for too long, but she had already learned to stay away from such people.

They whistled at her.

"Ay, pretty lady!" one of them called in a slurred cockney accent.

She ignored them.

"What a beauty you are!" called another.

She kept walking, trying to ignore the fact that they were following her. Maybe they would just leave, realizing that she had no intention of acknowledging them.

"A lovely lady such as yourself must have many lovely treasures." The first one slurred. "Surely you have the manners to share." He held out his hands, cupped together.

Treasure? She was confused. Money. Of course what's what they were after.

"I have no treasure." she said.

"I apologize," she said, "but I truly haven't a penny to my name." She paused, and then, with a hint of sorrow, said, "I am as homeless as you are."

The way she spoke was out of place. The men knew she was new to this place, this lifestyle. She was the perfect target.

"Why every maiden has a treasure," the man said, "but she keeps it locked away." The liquor in his bottle sloshed as he stumbled closer.

She didn't like where this was going.

"Slow down, love." The other man said lazily, "I can't keep up."

She kicked them in their weak spot and ran as quickly as her legs could carry her.

"Well, darling, if you want to be like that..."

Lexi felt something hit her, and for a second she lost her balance. After a while, she felt the glass shards lodged in her back and realized that one of the men had thrown his bottle at her. She felt blood trickling down her back, and the wounds were excruciatingly painful. She screamed, but the streets were empty. She couldn't run anymore. She felt dizzy.

She tasted a mix of blood and gravel in her mouth, while lying face down on the ground, helpless.

The two men stared down at her. One kicked her limp body.

She was too weak to move.

"That's more like it." he said.

She was at their mercy.

The man who had kicked her knelt down. His face was close enough to hers that she could smell his whiskey breath. "You are mine now." he whispered.

Lexi was losing blood at a dangerous rate, but that didn't bother her. She wanted nothing more than to die quickly. That was when she saw the woman out of the corner of her eye, a blurry figure.

At first, Lexi thought she was an angel.

The woman shouted something in a strange language that seemed to scare them away. There was a flash of white light. The next thing she knew, the woman was by her side firmly gripping her hand.

She found the woman's presence strangely comforting. Her pain slowly melted away and she struggled to stay awake. Was this what it felt like to die?

"You are not dying," the woman reassured her, as if reading her thoughts, "You will survive."

Lexi forced out a sentence before losing consciousness. "Who- who are you?"

"My name is Bethany," the woman answered, "Bethany Bennett."

Lexi slowly opened her eyes to find herself in a large bed in an unfamiliar room. Her vision was blurry, as was her recollection of the night before. All she remembered was that she was dying. Sunlight shone in her face from the window. It was dawn.

"She wakes," Bethany Bennett whispered. Lexi's rescuer was sitting at her bedside. She appeared even more exhausted than Lexi did.

To her surprise, Lexi noticed that she felt no pain at all. She rose. "Miss Bennett?"

"Rest, child." Bethany said softly. "You are still weak." As she came into focus, Lexi judged by the lack of wrinkles on her light brown skin that she wasn't very old. At the same time, she wasn't too young. There was wisdom in her soft, hazel eyes, that suggested that she had been alive for many years.

"Where am I?" Lexi asked, desperate for answers. "Am I dead?"

" No, you are alive." Bethany's voice was soothing, almost...motherly. "This is where I live, the residence of my mistress, Lady Katherine."

Lexi walked toward a large mirror in the corner of her room. She noticed that she was wearing a long white nightgown. She appeared to be unharmed, save for the scars on the back of her arms. She froze. Something wasn't right.

Her wounds were healed. Impossible. She knew without knowing that this was the mysterious Bethany's doing.

"Miss Bennett?" She turned around. Bethany Bennett was gone.

Lexi took the opportunity to examine the room. It was elegantly decorated, but it seemed unused. There were no personal belongings to be found, no portraits either, and when she opened a mahogany wardrobe, she found that it was empty. She assumed that she must be in some kind of guest room. She stared out of the tall window, which overlooked a large garden. Was she even in London anymore?

"Lady Katherine requests your presence." Bethany was standing at the door. "Pardon, but what is your name, child?"

"Alexis Gray" she responded.

"Please, follow me, Alexis Gray." Bethany lead her to a room even larger than the one she woke up in.

In complete contrast to the other room, this room had no windows and was filled with portraits and shelves of books written in unfamiliar languages. She assumed it was the library.

Lexi examined one. "Petrova" was written on the spine.

"Lady Katherine's family record," Bethany explained, "It is written in Bulgarian. Lady Katherine is the last of a line of Bulgarian nobles." She said no more, but gave Lexi a look that obviously meant don't touch that.

"Good morrow," an unfamiliar voice greeted. Sitting in a large armchair was the Lady Katherine herself.

Expecting an old woman, Lexi was surprised upon seeing the owner of the house, a young girl, no older than twenty. She was shockingly beautiful, with alabaster skin and dark wavy hair like silk. Even in stillness, she was strangely graceful. She wore the type of extravagant clothing that Lexi thought was only reserved for royalty. Despite her beauty, there was something slightly unsettling about her.

"Please, do introduce me to our guest, Miss Bennett."

"This is Alexis Gray." Bethany elbowed Lexi and she curtsied.

Katherine did the same. "A pleasure to meet you, Miss Gray. I must, you look quite lovely in my nightgown. It very much becomes you." She slightly giggled while placing her hand over her mouth. "You may keep it." Katherine's tone was distant, and dry.

After Katherine motioned her away, Bethany left the room.

"Come, sit down, Miss Gray" Katherine stared into Lexi's eyes intently.

Though she made no attempt at doing so, Lexi found herself taking a seat across from Katherine.

"Please, have a drink."

Lexi noticed a glass of red wine in front of her. She took a sip.

"Where is your home, Miss Gray?" Katherine inquired.

"I have no home." Lexi replied, uncomfortably.

"And why is that?" Katherine asked.

"I ran away." Lexi's instincts told her to tell Katherine as little as possible, though she didn't understand why.

"Surely they will accept you back." Katherine suggested. "They are your flesh and kin."

Lexi shook her head.

"I can convince them, if you wish." Katherine mused. "I can be very persuasive."

"No," Lexi said, "you cannot convince them."

"Why not?" Katherine asked, shocked that this girl dared to contradict her.

Lexi decided that Katherine was the type of person who loved to meddle in the affairs of others.

"Because they are dead."

Katherine was silent for a moment. "How?" she finally asked.

"They were murdered." Lexi stated. "My entire family was killed."

Lexi observed a change in Katherine. It was slight and brief, but she saw Katherine abandon her pretense of detachment. She saw sadness. Katherine quickly composed herself.

"You may stay here, if you would like, Miss Gray. I am in need of another handmaid."

Lexi had no choice but to accept the offer. She did it without even thinking about it. She felt... compelled...

Katherine noticed Bethany standing at the door once more. "Miss Bennett, please, do fetch some attire for my new handmaid, Miss Gray."

"Yes, my lady." Bethany replied. "My lady, you have a visitor."

"And, pray, is it a man or a woman?"

"A young man, my lady."

"Let him enter." There was a mischievous gleam in Katherine's eyes.

Lexi watched as a handsome man in his early twenties entered the room. He smiled. "Good day, Miss Katherine."

He turned to Lexi.

She was transfixed on his green eyes, speechless.

He smiled at her, and she felt a warmth inside her that she had never felt before.

He was more than handsome, he was almost angelic.

"This is Alexis, my new handmaid."

He held out his hand and she shook it for a little too long. "Alexis," he said. It sounded so right to her when he said it. Her heart started beating faster. She hoped with all her heart that she wasn't blushing.

"Alexis, this is Leander," Katherine introduced, "my lover."

Lexi ran out of the room, unable to say a word.

**A/N** So, what do you think? I know the story seems like unrelated bits and pieces so far, but everything will come together soon enough. Just hang in there! Any suggestions on who I should focus on next? Please, comment, it's like oxygen for my writing! ~Shinebrighter