THE HEIRESS (Sample)

CHAPTER ONE

She kept turning and tossing. The painful frown creased her beautiful face as she groaned a bit through soft succulent lips.

Her hands clasped down at her sides to grasp the sheets of the bed as she shook her head from side to side as if disagreeing with something in her dream she alone could see but didn’t want.

Her knuckles turned white as her grip on the sheets tightened as if something would seize her any moment she let go.

She gave a low groan again and her lips slowly parted trying to utter something. Perspiration coated her face and chest, her face seemed flush.

One of the candles at her bed flickered once as if blinking away fear. The room was massive with three large windows covered with heavy expensive drapes of deep green.

The bed chamber, the four poster bed sat close to the left window that overlooked the beautiful garden in the castle. The drapes had been pulled apart and tied with a thick cord to allow the free flow of ventilation within the room and within the very room lay the young maiden, whimpering and groaning restlessly and helplessly in her never-beauty sleep.

A gust of wind came from nowhere and extinguished the candle whose thin wisp of smoke rose towards the high ceiling but never reaching it before disappearing into nothingness immediately, the maiden jerked out of her sleep, sitting and panting and gasping.

Her lips parted in utter despair and she wanted to scream when she noticed that the flame of the candle she had gotten accustomed to, was gone.

She scrambled down the bed, feet first, reaching the jade rug at the foot of the bed. It was so dark, so so dark, how she hated the dark, it made her feel uncomfortable and frightened as if it hoarded the world’s evil.

“Easy there, little one!” a soothing feminine voice said in the dark.

The maiden halted at the edge of the bed at the sound and turned towards the direction of the familiar voice.

“Lady Catherine?”

“Little one!” The graceful silhouette of an older woman in her late fifties emerged from the dark into the faint light the sky offered as if a moon still nestled within it, sipped through one of closed windows.

“You’ve had one restless sleep again child, haven’t you?” Her voice was a relief to the maiden.

Emilia sighed, seeking comfort from the duchess of pearlsworth as she took the Duchess’ left hand and kissed the Sapphire ring on her finger as a sign of respect and love. The older woman gently patted the maiden’s disheveled hair, smoothing the scattered strands backwards and downwards.

“How long have you been here?” Emilia asked after slumping her shoulders, showing she was relaxed.

The duchess clapped her hands twice, sharply. Immediately, the door opened and a woman entered, curtsied and went to open the windows as the first sunrays of dawn began to sip in and brighten the room with its slow ascent.

Early birds’ calls could be heard from the garden and the rich scent of flowers poured into the room when the window facing the garden was opened. The maiden blinked several times, as her eyes tried to adjust from darkness to light just as the woman approached them.

“What else do you require of me, Your Grace?” the maid asked.

“Prepare her bath. We will be having important visitors today.” The Duchess answered.

The maid curtsied again and exited the room. The duchess took her seat beside her favorite and only niece on the bed.

“You look so pale, Emilia” she said wearily.

Emilia wrapped her arms around herself as the older woman whom she had taken to be her mother for the past six years pulled her into her embrace. “I had the dream again.” She muttered uneasily.

“Your father?”

“No…” she looked up at the Duchess. “The recent one with the man that I can’t see his face.” She gently placed her hand on the Duchess’ lap. “He tried to have his way with me...he...he...” she stuttered as her other hand fluttered to her neck in a frightened flashback.

“...he was choking me...” she let out a single sob.

“Shrrr!” said the Duchess, shushing her as she rested her chin on Emilia’s head, gently rubbing her arm to sooth her fear. “No one is going to hurt you, child. I promise you that!”

“Yes milady…” she sniffled as they both rocked back and forth in each other's embrace.