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Chapter 1

The Journal of Lady Glynis Wright,

The Castle

4th of August, 1819

There is no solace in this place I struggle to find it, but it eludesto find one shred of comfort This place is death It reeks of it Tastes of it I can hear its cries on the wind, and I cannot hide from its cold touch

How very odd that this sad little journal, with its tattered pages and frayed binding, should be ry with them I would rather curl up in this corner and record all that has occurred in this terrible place

The death, the pain, the bloodso much blood

It seems only proper to commit to paper the trials I have suffered, even if no one shall ever read this journal

Sweet little diary, you are my one and only friend Let me pour my words into you

I shall write until my story in this place is fully told

The cruel beauty of s filled loved hands under ers With a tender sainst his bony knee, squeezing it gently I drew coazed out at the brutal, majestic beauty of the Carpathian Mountains beyond the dirty carriage

Tiltingabove the pass The dark red curls fra balm to my flushed skin

Allowcreature with the light olive complexion of my Italian mother and the red hair of my British father My features have been described as classical: large aquamarine eyes, Roman nose, and a perfect little rosebud mouth

"What do you think, my dearest?" Father asked me

I smiled ruefully "It’s bloody awful"

"What an i lady," Mother chided

My nified as one could be in a lurching carriage With hair the color of bronze, eyes as blue as the Mediterranean, and her fine features still containing the illusion of youth, beautiful was the only word to describe ue, which was quicker and deadlier than any sword, or so my father liked to declare

"What should I say then?

Myout a hand in exasperation "She is your daughter, Edric Please speak to her I have not the strength left after this abo look, then turned to comfort my sister

May sat wan and sickly, her dark blue eyes gazing fearfully froe I adored er sister, but she was always timid and fearful I was forced to bully her into any adventure we undertook She had not taken well to traveling and always see our transits, whether by water or by land "I believe we are going to fall down this , cara e soon, and all will be well"

"She never calls me cara mia," I whispered to my father

"There, there," Father said in a rather bored voice, pattingand tiresome We were all so very weary and cantankerous

"Well, if we do fall off the mountain, I’ One last bit of excite lives," I decided

"Glynis, really," Mother scolded

Ignoring her, I opened the carriageand leaned out to peer down the steep drop that lay a e

"Ma her face in Mother’s shoulder

"Really, Glynis! Have you no sense at all? Why do you wish to upset your sister so?"

I bristled underas Father intoned, "There, there," patting her hand to soothe her

Instead of coddling May, as Mother ont to do, I decided to irk them both evenso decidedly female about the entire journey So, I leaned even further out theand flashed my mother a defiant smile

"Glynis, pull your head back in here! I cannot believe your daughter, Edric!"

I realized that et the best of her As I did not wish her to scold Father for h Fluffing up lare at her

"Do not look atlady! If you had behaved yourself in Venezia, Roma, Firenze, and even in Paris, ould not have to be here now in this abominable place," Mother scolded

She had a point The entire purpose of our travels abroad were to find suitable husbands for lish suitors found me far too outspoken and n for lish aristocracy because of our Italian e did not help us find favor ast the nobility

"I do not want a husband," I responded coyly

"Oh, really? And what is it that you want?"

"A series of young lovers" There! I knew that would send her over the edge at me and spare Father her wrath