Chapter 1
TW: mentioning of opium abuse
Charlotte's POV
The sun illuminated the ball room in my father's house in London. Her light broke in thousands of little beams in the enormous chandelier hanging in the middle of the room. I've seen this plenty of times, and yet I am always fascinated by this simple beauty. "Beautiful isn't it?" Someone said and stood beside me. The smell of my father's cigarettes hit my nose but I didn't know the voice of the person who stood beside me. "Indeed. I see this almost every day and I will never stop thinking that this is the most beautiful thing I'll ever see." I tore my gaze from the chandelier and put it on the stranger, who still gazed up at the chandelier. "I don't think I know you." My voice came out like a whisper, and I hated it. "Neither do I know you." His dark eyes met mine and it felt like I discovered something I shouldn't have seen.
"Dorian Gray." The stranger offered me his hand, which I shook after a few seconds. "Charlotte Wotton." I introduced myself and couldn't help but smile and blush lightly when he took my hand, raised it to his lips and placed a soft kiss on my knuckles. This gesture seemed to be so old fashioned, but who was I to complain? "A pleasure to meet you, Mr Gray." "Please, call me Dorian." He suggested. "Then call me Charlotte." There was something in his eyes I couldn't describe, but the fact that he still held my hand in his was more than welcomed - at least by my heart.
"Ah, I see you met Charlotte." Lord Henry Wotton, my father, came towards us, and Dorian quickly let go of his hand. "Yes, I did." The way he smiled at me was not good for my sanity. "Have you met Emily yet?" My father asked him. "Not yet. I will be sure I'm going to meet your daughter some other day." I chuckled lightly. "Father, I think Lord Richard hasn't been harassed by you yet." "You must be right. We will talk later, Dorian." With these words he walked away and I rolled my eyes.
"Father? Harry's your father?" Dorian looked at me with confusion in his eyes. "Yes. I'm actually the disgrace to the name of Wotton, cause my mom was Emily's nanny. It was quite the scandal, but no one cares anymore." I explained, my eyes never leaving his. For a moment he looked puzzled, before he laughed softly. "That sounds so much like Harry. Even though I never thought he'd be that ... Reckless." I chuckled at his words. "Victoria filed the divorce after she found out. It's sad that she couldn't have a life as a free woman." There was sadness in my voice.
Victoria Wotton has always been kind to me in my childhood, she was treating me like her own child, and treated my mother well - even though she found out her husband had been unfaithful. She kept my mother as Emily's nanny, and still treated me like her own child. This woman even sometimes favoured me over Emily. To say I missed her, was an understatement. Her death had left a gaping hole in my life, and no opium den in this godforsaken city could fill it.
"I heard about it. Natural cause, they said, right?" Dorian put a hand on my arm to comfort me. The warmth radiating from him was temporarily filling the void, and I knew I found something I was looking for in those opium dens. He must've seen something in my eyes, as he took a little step closer to me. "Do you want to take a little walk, Charlotte? Fresh air does miracles."
So we grabbed our coats and went outside. He was right. The fresh air really did miracles and I took a deep breath, even though this wasn't helping the light shaking my hands. "You conceal it very well. I wouldn't have noticed if it wouldn't be a habit of mine as well." I froze in place, staring at him. "I.. I don't know what you mean." Fear and anxiety rushed through my bloodstream. "You know exactly what I'm talking about." His dark eyes found mine. "Maybe we could go there together some day. Nice company is always hard to find..."
The fear and the anxiety suddenly shifted into something else: desire and excitement. Would he really go to the opium dens with me? "You're not going to tell my father, right?" "I can keep a secret or two." "Do you promise?" "Anything you want me, Charlie." Goosebumps rushed over my back and my heart stopped for a second. No one ever had called me by that nickname ever before. It definitely did something to me, and I could see by the look in his face, that he knew exactly what he had done - what kind of fire he had ignited.
And God knew I would let it burn until it consumed me.
