"You do not need to know this world, Flick."
"Might you stop calling me that?"
MISS ALINA ASHFORD knew very little about the London social season. Years of exploring the continent alongside her grandmother might have expanded her worldly view, but...
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MISS ALINA ASHFORD FELT INCREDIBLY QUEASY. She had been back on English soil for little over two-and-twenty hours, but her stomach swayed as though it were still on the magnificent vessel that braved the Channel.
Her eyes tried to focus on the grandiose townhouses that began to appear out of the carriage window. Each one was grander than the last, magnificent structures carved from brick and dotted with lush foliage. They were creatures that ruled over the candy-coloured mice that scurried beneath them. Some were kind, allowing blooming wisteria to tumble down from ornate balconies and welcome guests. Others were stricter, lathered in pristine white paint. It was a fantasy world that did not stop Alina's stomach swirling.
"Alina, you must relax." Lady Ursula Ashford had an inability to truly scold her only daughter. Instead she watched her carefully, nervously. The same way that most people in her life gazed upon her.
"I am perfectly relaxed, Mama. One would argue I am too relaxed." Alina turned her cerulean eyes away from the creatures and faced her mother with a soft smile. Faint rays of morning sunshine snuck into the carriage and made her golden hair glow.
"The tinge of green upon your cheeks suggests otherwise." Ursula quirked her eyebrows.
"I am still finding my feet back on land. You know long it takes for me to lose my sea-legs." Alina was lying through her teeth and both women knew that.
"Your brothers are more nervous than you are, Flick. They cannot fathom that their sweet little sister is to engage in her first social season." They started to look out the window again. The mice garb was becoming more vivid in tone the closer they got to Grosvenor Square.
"And do we believe they will actually allow a single caller?" Alina said. She was fixated on a gaggle of mourning-toned mice scampering down the street. Their silhouettes were drawn tighter than was the current fashion, their vibrant red hair piled atop their heads. They looked uncomfortable. Unified, but dreadfully out-of-place. But the leader of the gaggle, presumably the mother, drew her head up to the sky and marched as they were the rulers of the illustrious square. Alina thought it most fascinating.
Ursula could not fight the chuckle that erupted from her lips at the comment. Alina looked over at her mother in amusement. For all the rules behest upon her as the youngest daughter, she was glad that her mother stood in her corner. The only reason she was back in London was due to her insistence. "They will be as stubborn as that bloody mule we had at Clydesgrove."
The carriage finally came to a shuddering halt outside their London residence. All it took was a single glance for Alina to conclude the townhouse towering above them was a frightening creature indeed. She swore it was welcoming, once.
"Could we not have gone to Clydesgrove instead?" She muttered loud enough for Ursula to hear. Her mother nudged her lightly, but allowed her to step out of the carriage first. Alina emerged into the world of mice and creatures, and deeply inhaled the scent of the new world.
