No Grey [Anthony Bridgerton]

Chapter one-

Today was the first day of the newest social season and so far Hyra Beaufort has spent most of it in a coach with an incredibly bothersome feather on her head. She had always wanted to do this, but now that she was about to do it? She wished to throw herself out the carriage and ruin every bit of white on the beautifully expensive dress.

Her mother had gone all out on every part of today, the dress, the coach, the staff that had helped her dress, the necklace that drew even the coachman's eye downwards. She seemed to have the philosophy that if she couldn't find her daughter a husband in the next three years she would squander every penny her husband had left them to try. Her marriage was supposed to be of love, when she was young and supposed to be only the first born in a long line of heirs, then the man of the house had died with no sons.

He had also managed to have no relations that could take the mantle, somehow his family had always managed to only have one son, except his grandfather did have a brother. Whom never married then died promptly after meeting a woman, entirely unhelpful. His legion of sisters husbands could not decide which of them would get the fortune he had left. So, instead of watching them all shoot each other until one ended up with the lot of them, the court presiding over his estate said that it would remain in their hands until his daughter reached the age of twenty-one without a man to control the house.

The carriage rolled to a stop in front of the castle ready for the heiress and her mother to get to work on the men of the ton.

"Your aunt Marcine wanted me to tell you to smile as you exited the coach."

"Which one is she?"

"The one with a toad for a husband."

"Then why should I listen to her advice?"

"Exactly what I was thinking, grant your smile only to very good-looking men and the queen. In opposite order, you being diamond would make this an incredible amount easier."

"Nothing would make this easier for you, mother," the girl replied causing her mother to laugh as she took the coachman's hand and stepped out of the carriage.

Hyra was next, she took the man's hand and slipped out of the carriage after her mother, which was a very difficult tk with the feather protruding from her head. The group outside of the castle was mostly of the lowest of the high class who would not be invited to the inside event. Hyra let her mouth curve the smallest bit upwards so that she could look sweet but still not be smiling, a hard line to balance that she walked with as much ease as the woman on her arm.

"Why should she make us wear this absurd plumage?" The younger girl asked quietly without moving her mouth.

"To make you look like the rooster you wake up as, my dear," her mother answered as if it were the most simple thing in the world.

"I do believe your thinking of aunt Prune."

"That's such a rude thing to call her."

"It's her name, mother."

"Oh yes, I forgot how fitting their names were."

"Mother!"

"Send her my dearest apologies."

"You know that you are not sorry."

♢♢♢

The two women looked around the room at the competition Hyra had, which was none. Simply put, these women were smiling and giggling and could not stand straight as they prepared themselves one final time.

A man dressed in a strange grey came in and demanded all of the girls get into a line, Hyra's mother pulled her to the very end saying something about 'the one they see last is the one they remember.' After they had ordered themselves into a decent enough line they were each handed a slip of paper and told to write their names, he then collected them all in the order they'd be announced, and left the room.

They waited through every set of girls and their mothers for a mildly long, and moody on Sylvia's half. Hyra nearly regretted listening to her mother and taking the back of the line until the words finally came through the door.

"Last and certainly not least, Miss Hyra Beaufort, presented by her mother, the Right Honourable, Lady Sylvia Beaufort."

Finally, the doors opened before her. The crowd went silent, or she turned their voices off, one can never be sure. She did not care to look at their reactions, only one reaction mattered today. She moved forward with her mother behind her, her dress suddenly felt stupid but she did not change anything. It was meant to look like that, she did not let them see anything. The entire room was glaring at her, she could feel it. She was supposed to smile now, she didn't.

Arriving at the Queens stairs she waited two seconds of eye contact with the Queen before sinking into the lowest curtsy she could manage and looked at the Queen for a response. She did not move from her position as the queen got up from her chair and moved towards her. Hyra's eyes followed the Queens every move until she stopped in front of Hyra. She finally released her sweetest smile. The Queen smiled back a vicious smile.

Hyra felt a new pair of eyes on her back, she didn't care to look. She was eye to eye with the Queen. Her Majesty brought her hand to the girls face and stopped smiling.

"Magnificent."

The room around her erupted into cheers as the Queen brought Hyra up to face her. "Welcome to our ranks, Diamond."

Her chest soared at the praise. She was in, she was the diamond of the season. Hyra's mother was smiling brightly behind her as the queen stepped away and let the crowd swarm around the newest caged animal of the ton. Her mother grabbed hold of her arm and whispered into her ear. "I told you, jewels run in our family."

Laughing and then quickly dampening both of their smiles into subtle curves on their faces the victors of the day turned to face the group of men surrounding them. They looked quickly to the outskirts before choosing the man they would speak to first at the ball.

Then men who weren't talking to them were as follows: Sir Colin Firth (a man standing beside his daughter and wife), Lord Anbernathy (a creep who knew he didn't have a chance, already talking to one of the younger women who had presented themselves that day), and Lord Anthony Bridgerton (who simply seemed to be looking from afar).

Immediately after her review of the men in the room she decided her best options were as follows: Lord Bridgerton (Hyra didn't care which one, but preferably the Viscount, who seemed unfortunately uninterested), Lord Leonard Shroud (a man who was just a few years older than Hyra that hadn't married and traveled more often than he was home), Sir Fredrick Welsh (a large fat man who would likely die soon with a darling nephew and niece-in-law who would take his title and therefore control her life after), and finally Sir Elijah Wayne (a handsome man who's father recently died that was looking for someone to share his stories).

Both of the women made a mental catalog of those same choices and left the room, the first ball would be the next night, thrown by lady Danbury.

Word count: 1274