Chapter 3

Sebastian had spent most of the meals seated beside her father, talking and laughing with them and charming Sophie a lot.

He seemed to be a kind and funny person, with an open heart and a sweet side.

Sophie wondered if that was the sort of man she would end up marrying someday. Someone who could make her smile, make her laugh, a man who got along with her parents as well.

Of course, she had no idea why Sebastian was headed to London, he had not said anything over dinner, but it was an interesting thought…

Just because she had not felt a spark around that man did not mean a thing. She was not even sure what a ‘spark’ was supposed to feel like, it was just something that she had read about in books.

Maybe it was something writers made up, who knew?

“Did you hear the captain at dinner time?” her mother asked, dragging her attention back to the present moment. “There might be a storm tonight. We should be careful.”

“A storm?” Sophie had to admit that she had not heard the captain speaking. She had been too distracted, too lost in her own thoughts. The closer they got to London, the more the nerves started to take over. She was still excited, of course, that would not subside, but the reality of everything was creeping up on her, and she was afraid. “How bad? Did the captain say?”

“He did not mention,” her father responded. “But I am hoping it will not sway the ship around too much because I do not wish to get seasick.”

At least he was worrying about that and not the boat crashing. Because that was the first terrifying though that crossed Sophie’s mind. The idea of the ship overturning, with everyone on it, hit her hard.

“As long as we stay in our cabins, we will be fine,” her mother tutted. “You do not need to worry about that. We can simply rest until morning when it will have passed over us.”

As her parents started to talk about getting dressed for bed, Sophie made her excuses and headed to her own bed, closing the door behind her.

She took a glance out the window, but that did not give her any clue about what was to come. The sky looked peaceful, like nothing was on the horizon, but if the captain had talked about a storm, then it was probably on the way.

“Come on, Douglas,” she said quietly to her dog. “Get on the bed with me.”

She sighed heavily as she pulled out her night dress to prepare for the night ahead, but she felt a little wired. Like she might not be able to switch off and sleep for even a moment, which was unlikely, and not just because of the storm overhead, but because her mind felt absolutely jumbled with thoughts. Thoughts that were simply piling up because she did not have anywhere for them to go.

***

Sophie was enjoying herself, dancing in a fancy ballroom in a gorgeously lavender gown with a dark-haired gentleman who kept smiling at her as if she was the best thing to have ever happened to him. She did not even know his name, but he seemed to be in love with her.

He had the look of adoration in his eyes as if he wanted her to be his wife already, and she had to admit that she wanted this to. Because he was a prince, about to be king of England one day.

But all of a sudden, before she could quite wrap her head around what was happening, the prince had staggered back from her, and he had a look of horror in his face.

A cracking sound knocked him backwards.

He fell to the floor.

The rumbling as a thousand dogs came speeding towards the prince knocked her backwards too. She could not get to the prince however hard she tried. The dogs barking did not want her to either. They were growing louder and louder with every moment.

Sophie gasped.

She bolted up right in bed, covered in sweat as she tried to work out what was real, and what had just happened in her brain.

Because that was a dream, right? It had to be.

Yet the next cracking sound really made her jump, and as the lightning flashed into the room, Douglas began barking once more, making all the sounds from her dream all too real.

But there was no ballroom and certainly no prince.

“Douglas, come here,” she whispered to her pet. “I need you…”

But the next flash of lightning showed Sophie that she really should be terrified. That there was a reason for this ice-cold fear currently cascading through her body. Because the swaying of the ship had flung her door open, out into the hallway, and now Douglas in his fearful state was running through said door.

“No! Douglas!” she cried.

Without even a moment of hesitation, Sophie knew what she needed to do. She had to get Douglas back before anything happened to the poor boy. He was always temperamental during storms. He truly did not like them, and there was no telling how her poor boy would react.

The idea of her poor dog getting hurt or even lost was utterly unbearable. It made her heart hurt, her whole chest ached, but she used that to drive her forwards, to keep her running. She did not even think about the other people on the ship and who she might be waking up with her yelling. The desperation to find her precious dog overshadowed everything.

“Douglas! Oh no…”

The moment she crashed on deck, her heart sunk.

The wind was terrible, blowing her all over the place, and she was immediately soaked to the bone.

If she was in this mess, then what about Douglas?

The desperation to find her little dog became even more intense.

It took her a moment to spot him, to find her best friend in the whole wide world, but she soon spotted Douglas up front, cowering in some rope.

“I am coming, Douglas,” she called out after him, even though she could almost feel her voice floating away on the wind. “Stay where you are.”

But the deck had become slippery, and Sophie did not have any shoes on her feet. She kept sliding, almost tumbling to her feet as the boat rocked…

Before she could make it to Douglas, the ship was tossed so violently that she could not hold her body upright any longer. She lost sight of Douglas as she was slammed into the side of the boat, her whole body smashing into the railings. The force was so much, the storm so huge, that her feet seemed to leave the floor. Just for a moment.

No, not just for a moment, she was soaring.

By the time Sophie felt anything again, it was the rope that she had instinctively grabbed hold of to keep herself from splashing into the waves below.

If she hit that water, it would fill up her lungs and she would most certainly die. No one would even know where she was to save her, and Douglas…

Well, she simply could not die for Douglas’s sake.

A scream burst from her chest the moment her body slammed against the side of the ship, almost knocking the air from her lungs completely. It was a sound that went nowhere, it simply seemed to cycle around Sophie as she clung desperately to the rope, but it was all that she had.

She did not have the arm strength to pull herself upwards and get back on deck, and there was nothing there for her to grip onto. Certainly not with the wind still blowing violently and the boat still rocking violently on the waves.

“Help!”

It was a pitiful cry, likely to go nowhere, but she had to keep going.

“Help me, please…”

Had her prayers been answered?

Or was this her brain’s way of letting her know that she had nothing left, and it was giving her a reason to let go?

No, that was silliness. She could feel the warmth of hands gripping on to her. The electricity surging through her body.

There were fingers lacing through hers, pulling her up with a powerful strength that actually allowed her to feel a little safer once more. She was being tugged up, freed from the rope and the idea of plunging to her death below. She was being saved.

A crack of lightning allowed her to see the man’s face as he grabbed her and pulled her even harder.

It was a face that she had a glimmer of recognition of, but she could not place him. She did not know him enough.

He was handsome though, that much she could see from here.

Another flash of lightning and she could see how his dark hair hung just above his hazel eyes, which held a depth unlike anything Sophie had ever seen before. She could hardly catch her breath because of the deep impact that vision had on her. It was unlike anything she had ever experienced before.

In that brief moment, time seemed to stand still and that was just fine by her. She loved this moment, looking at this man, realizing that she was about to be saved…