Sabine arrives in London under damp dusk and is immediately charmed by the city’s sprawl and anonymity. Drawn to a honey-colored dress in a modiste’s window, she enters the shop and learns that with the London social Season approaching, all dresses are spoken for. Impatient, she considers compelling the modiste but refrains, then shifts tactics.

Within a week, Sabine hosts a tea in her newly acquired house—formerly owned by a deceased, heirless baroness—and appears in the same honey-colored gown. She has swiftly woven herself into the neighborhood’s social circle by inviting local ladies and managing the daylight in her parlor to avoid the sun. During tea, gossip surfaces about the Earl Street modiste having died suddenly at her workbench, which Sabine treats as unfortunate news.

Sabine crafts a convincing backstory as a young widow of a Spanish viscount named Andrés, embellishing the truth to win sympathy and acceptance. She presents herself as recently out of mourning, alone in London, and uninterested in remarriage, which prompts the women to promise introductions and company during the Season. Sabine’s goal is clear: visibility and access.

As the first Season unfolds, Sabine likens it to Carnevale and establishes rules for her hunt, avoiding high-profile targets who would be greatly missed. She feeds sparingly, choosing lower-risk victims: first a lady’s maid, then an oft-unmatched daughter, and later a visiting married cousin. Male suitors who court her are dispatched only when necessary, their blood unsatisfying. Over successive years she tends her hunger carefully, preferring the thrill of the chase.

By the fourth year, feeling rooted in London, Sabine seeks a greater challenge. At the presentation ball she initially selects a fair, blue-eyed debutante as her mark, relishing the prospect of a proper hunt. However, at the next ball she notices a different newcomer: a golden-dressed girl with sun-kissed skin, unruly brown curls, and vivid presence, standing against the wall and peering at her dance card like a shackle.

Lady Pollard identifies the girl as the newest ward of Amelia Hastings and hints at a past incident at the ward’s estate involving another girl. The rumor, paired with the ward’s aura of hope and fear, captivates Sabine. She discards her original target and silently resets her rules, focusing on this new girl whose mind and longing stand out amid the crowded ballroom.

Sabine’s fixation hardens into intent, and the narration foreshadows that this encounter will pivot her existence—that the ward will become both the beginning and the end of everything for Sabine.