The circumstances of her birth were not the stuff of polite conversation. Born to a Spaniard and the Scots-Irishwoman who could very nearly be called his mistress, Miss Rachel Castro came out of her mother’s womb a round thing with thick, curly black hair and blue eyes. More out of a desire to raise their child in a united home than out of any pressure to amend their less than proper situation, the two parents wed a year and two months later. And so, the young girl grew up. She was, perhaps, not the prettiest girl at the dinner parties and balls, but her wit more than enough made up for any of her physical shortcomings. By the time she was nineteen, her desire for adventure and hunger for knowledge drove her out of the welcoming folds of her home and family, and into a world in which she may or may not have been fully prepared to handle.

But this is no story of regrets and sorrow.

This is a tale of trysts and triumphs, vixens and villains.

The makings of an erudite adventuress.