Séraphine (Eternelles: A Prequel, Book 0.5) by Zee Monodee, Natalie G. Owens

S ERAPHINE
     
    Eternelles
    A Prequel
     
    Square jaw, ebony hair, tanned skin. Definitely not British. Or perhaps he is, but spent time abroad.…
    Séraphine “Sera” Dionysios tried her damnedest to focus on the serious conversation with William, her fiancé, and not on the brooding man who kept stealing glances at her from four tables away. Yet, he never stared long enough for her to get a good glimpse of his face.
    A dark, gothic hero. Her gaze flitted from broad shoulders, down a well-formed arm—she swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry—to his hand, a big hand wrapped tightly around a mug of ale, thick veins prominent on the back skin, and fingers surprisingly long and graceful. The grip of a robust, youthful man, and the fingers of a pianist. A paradox. Still, he came across as more refined than coarse. Strange indeed, and the mystery awoke an instinct for investigation. Before her was a man who should be full of confidence, yet a mass of secrets and anxiety emanated from him. His body seemed as stiff as the solid wood chair he sat on.
    If she’d been alone, would she have tried to strike a conversation? Such boldness was uncharacteristic of her; then again, she’d never been so intrigued.
    William’s worried voice sailed into her reverie, and she scolded herself for the direction she’d let her mind take her.
    “Over a hundred and forty deaths, all children, young women.” William swallowed, his brow creased in concern. “Dad was hit hard. To think Harris almost bamboozled him into investing.”
    The Triangle Waist Company owned by his family dominated the New York City headlines in 1911 for the worst of reasons—a deadly blaze that killed so many innocents who’d worked in that building under horrific conditions. William’s father, a wealthy industrialist with factories of his own, had come in the line of fire of all the anger and protesting.
    Sera nodded in understanding, while a hidden partition in her mind willfully defected and speculated about the stranger. Curiosity killed the cat. Or perhaps pre-wedding jitters? To say she’d felt stressed lately would be an understatement. But there was something else at play here, something she couldn’t quite pinpoint, and of all the things in the world she disliked most, an unsolved mystery or problem ranked high on the list. Perhaps she couldn’t control the fact that she didn’t know much about herself, where she came from, but she could master her own mind, and find the explanations as to how and why other things and people affected her. This man was nothing more than a mathematical problem or some ancient hieroglyphic she’d try to decipher. A problem that would niggle at her brain until she came up with a satisfactory solution.
    Under the antiquated gas light, she noted hair long enough to fall in haphazard waves over his face. He kept his head bent, his profile to her, so she still couldn’t see the features properly, except the hint of full, lush lips. Plus, all she could make out now came through peripheral vision and a few fleeting looks, lest William, with good reason, think her behavior odd.
    If only the man had been sitting closer, then…
    Then what? At another peek of that strong frame, the black, shiny locks, the way he sat, a memory stirred.
    “…It would have been a disaster.” William shook his head, and a wayward blond curl fell on his brow above striking blue eyes. Sera reached out and pushed it back in place, smiling.
    “Your father isn’t a fool, dearest. He would have never given money to someone like Harris. After all, it wasn’t the first time the man has done something criminal.”
    “Yeah, and he keeps getting away with it, he and that partner of his. People are mistrustful now.” He gave her an apologetic look. “I wouldn’t be in such a hurry to leave were it not for this—”
    “Oh, be quiet! I’m tired of England anyway and rather fancy a change of scenery.”
    Not completely true—her moods hovered from