Burn - Edmund Bridgerton II's story

Chapter 4 - Ode to Joy

After Amelia had returned to the gardens, soon followed by Eddie, who for once carefully avoided eye contact with her, they had discovered that Geoffrey Dorset had broken his leg when he had fallen down a small cliff in the woods while trying to recover his ball. There went Amelia's chances for morning walks with him, so at the next dawn she went out by herself and wandered into the stables to get some much needed peace and quiet. The familiar scent of horses and hay immediately calmed down her nerves, as she entered the long corridor of the bigger one of the estate's two enormous stables. Amelia had never before seen horses in such luxurious lodgings; all the boxes were large and airy, one horse was being massaged by some stablehands while other thoroughbreds were being carefully washed down after their training. All the stablehands bowed politely to her, which she thought was a little curious, but at least there did not seem to be any Bridgertons around, which was a relief. She read the names of the horses on the gilded plaquettes by the many box doors she passed. All the names seemed to have something to do with flying, or were surprisingly enough names of characters out of novels written by Jane Austen, who happened to be one of Amelia's favourite authors. She stopped by the box of a grey mare that reminded her of her own beloved horse that she had been forced to leave behind at the Fife estate. She stroked its silky muzzle and read on the door that the horse was called High Hopes. That suited her well, since she had high hopes of taking the beautiful horse out and galloping far away from this damned house where everyone seemed to either hate her or like her a bit too much...

"Ah, Miss Fife!" Amelia suddenly heard a woman's voice and the wild clatter of hooves behind her. She whirled around and saw the viscountess approaching, relaxedly leading a bouncing and snorting bay stallion. "Get in there, you crazy animal..." She huffed gently at the horse and locked it into one of the empty boxes, before turning back towards Amelia. "I did not expect to find you here. Do you like horses?" She asked with a kind smile. At least one person in this household seemed to be pleasant enough towards Amelia. Then again, her mother had told her that Kate Bridgerton was probably the only sensible person at Aubrey Hall and that they had once almost become friends with each other. Amelia had read a little about the viscountess and was very impressed by the fact that the woman was running an extremely successful racehorse business and stud farm. Apparently so successful in fact, that she had opened not just one but three orphanages in London, two public schools in Bloomsbury and most importantly, a medical clinic for women that was entirely free of charge, located close enough to the harbours that even the poorest back alley prostitutes could get help there if needed.

"I do like horses, your ladyship." Amelia replied and curtsied politely. "I had a grey mare just like this one back home, but I could not take her with me to London..."

"Your ladyship..." Kate chuckled. "Please, call me Kate. 'Your ladyship' makes me sound so terribly old." She smirked and tossed a hay bale over the box door to the horse she had just brought in. Amelia's jaw almost dropped when she realised the viscountess was not wearing a dress. Even though the legs were wide enough to be mistaken for a hem, she was definitely wearing trousers. Quickly, Amelia turned her eyes away when the tall dark woman glanced back at her. "But I am so sorry about your horse, I know how important animals can be to a person. Unfortunately, my own daughters do not share my love for horses... Charlotte is more into music than riding and Lily is into painting, although I have always encouraged them to try less ladylike pursuits as well." Kate grinned and shrugged her shoulders. "Miles is the only one who seems to be interested in running the business with me. Eddie was as fond of animals as Miles when he was a boy, but nowadays he seems to only barely care about his own horse and not at all about our countless other animals..."

"Which one is his?" Amelia heard herself asking, though she probably should not have.

"That one." Kate pointed at a black stallion that was a bit lazily observing the two women over his box door. The horse was apparently quite aptly named Mr Darcy, but Amelia would not have been surprised if it had been called Bucephalus. It would have suited the young viscount perfectly well to parallel himself with Alexander the Great...