You wake to the sound of birdsong and your mother’s shrill voice echoing through Longbourn. Another suitor has arrived—Mr Bingley, wealthy and unmarried. The house buzzes with anticipation. You’re Elizabeth Bennet, second eldest of five sisters, and you’ve no interest in playing the part of the eager debutante. Still, you go to the assembly ball, where you meet him—Mr Darcy. Tall, silent, and disdainful, he refuses to dance, calling you 'not handsome enough' to tempt him. The words sting, but you laugh them off. Later, when he watches you across the room, his gaze lingers just a second too long.

Weeks pass. Jane falls ill at Netherfield, and you walk through the rain to care for her, arriving with mud up to your ankles. The Bingley sisters sneer, but Darcy says nothing. That night, he approaches you. 'You have a bold manner, Miss Bennet.'

'Only when provoked, sir.'

He smirks. 'Then I must have provoked you greatly.'

The air between you crackles. You don’t know it yet, but this is the beginning of everything.