She’d spent most of her years traveling in the company of her father – Edwin – and two elder brothers – Cassius and Leo – of who made their wages through swindling.

Dani’s role in the family business involved little of the dirty work, as she was tasked primarily with creating diversions whenever the situation called for it. This lent her plenty of time to spare on herself, which was spent buried in novels. She read and dreamed of worlds brimming with magics, creatures of legend, and all-powerful gods. She’d imagine herself as a character in such tales, embarking on epic adventures in which the fate of entire kingdoms lay dependent. While she treasured the life she shared with her family, there remained an insatiable need within Dani for something more.

One fateful day, just prior to her 18th birthday, the cogs of fate began to turn. Edwin had devised a scheme so brilliant, so grand, that he and the boys were certain it’d be their last; and it was their last, though not in the way they’d anticipated. Edwin had proven too ambitious. In a matter of days, the family found themselves crowded together in a dark, dank cell awaiting judgement.

Knowing the fate of him and his sons to be unavoidable, Edwin used the last of his wits to spare his daughter, and alongside Cassius and Leo, swore to Dani’s lack of involvement within their ploys. The morning of their trial, guards came and pulled Dani out of her confinement. As rough, unforgiving hands dragged her away, tearful farewells turned into frantic goodbyes. The last words she’d heard her father say were in the form of a name; Eliza Regan. The name echoed throughout the prison as the cell door shut, sealing away the only family she’d ever known.

And so, with nothing left but the clothes on her back, Dani began her search that very evening for an Eliza Regan. As she walked the streets to places unknown, she heard a crier announce the execution of three notorious con-artists.

Eliza Regan, it turns out, was Dani’s mother. A widowed baroness, she shared that same ambition Dani had once admired so much in her father. Now though, Dani couldn’t stop herself from finding it to be a wicked thing. She grew ever-more resentful of Eliza as she came to realize that her only value to her mother was in her ability to elevate the Regan name within the ranks of nobility. Dani was not a daughter, but a trophy to be claimed by an undetermined nobleman once she came of age on her 20th birthday. Thus, Dani was thrust into the unfamiliar world of high-society. Time that was once spent daydreaming of adventures was now squandered attending banquets and meeting suitors.

Time flowed on in this manner, and her 20th birthday came and passed. The following evening, she received a visit to her quarters from her mother, who was flushed with alcohol and pride. Dani, so it happens, had received a proposal of marriage from a wealthy marquess whom had taken an interest in her during her coming-of-age banquet. Her mother’s jubilance was the antithesis to Dani’s horror. She'd heard the rumors surrounding this marquess; said to have beat his two previous wives to death, avoiding prosecution through sizable donations to the grieving families and favors to those governing the courts.

That night, with only the light of the moon to guide her way, Dani donned a servant’s cloak and escaped into the woods surrounding her mother’s manor. She had no plan. All she knew was that whatever fate she met out in the world would be preferable to what awaited her here.

And suddenly, Dani once more found herself thrust into a new world; only this time, quite literally.

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