Covet - Miles Bridgerton's story

Chapter 1 - Homebound (Part 1)

NOTE: Hold on to your hats and bonnets, this first chapter (in two parts) lets you know what has happened in England while Miles has been away for almost two years, so it's a lot to take in...

From hereon I will continue with my habit of publishing a new chapter every Thursday!

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Aubrey Hall, June 1841

The fields of Ferryhallow lay peaceful in the warm summer sun, disturbed only by the soft buzzing of insects and some birds chirping in the distance. A little brown mouse crawled up on a long grain stalk and sniffed the fresh breeze, followed by its five little offspring, but they all quickly scurried away at the sudden thumping of the approaching footsteps of a running human. The mouse family had just managed to disappear into their hole under a small rock when a young woman whooshed past the grain stalk they had just sat on. The oldest mouse peeked up from the hole, but it turned back into safety when a young man soon followed the other dangerous human being. It did not care about whether the humans were playing together or if the first one was actually being hunted by the other, all it cared about was that the pups were safe in their hole, while the man caught the woman who gave out a shriek and they both collapsed down amongst the wheat a few metres away.

"Do I really have to spend the rest of my days chasing you through these fields?" Eddie Bridgerton laughed out of breath, once he had gently wrestled his wife down on the ground.

"Yes, that is what you vowed to do, in front of the bishop..." Amelia Bridgerton grinned back at him. She was as out of puff as he was and it certainly did not help that he was laying on top of her, pinning her hands over her head against the soil on the ground.

"I don't remember there being any such promises in my wedding vows..." He smirked and slid down on his side next to her. "But of course I will follow you, wherever you go." Eddie smiled warmly and gave her a slow, long kiss. Amelia hummed happily and gazed up at the almost cloud free sky and the long grain that swayed softly in the wind around them.

"Oh, I do love hiding out in fields of wheat with you..." She smirked and swept away a dark chestnut lock of hair from Eddie's face, still damp after their swim in the nearby pond.

"And I do love you..." Eddie smiled. "But, today is the day of Miles' big return and he will be at the house in an hour or two, so we have to get going..." He added, sounding somewhat disappointed.

"Are you nervous, about seeing him again after almost two years...?" Amelia wondered.

"Yes." Eddie admitted directly. "He hasn't replied to a single one of my letters during this time, even though I know they've had an active correspondence with Charlotte, so he probably hates me still... And you too, you should be prepared for that..."

"Surely he can't hate us forever! Tomorrow the guests will arrive for the Hearts and Feathers Ball and once he sees how happy Geoffrey is nowadays, he has no reason to hold a grudge against us." Amelia concluded and stood up from the ground, offering Eddie her hand.

"Mm, but then again it's Miles Bridgerton we are talking about, only god knows what goes on inside that man's head..." Eddie sighed deeply, took Amelia's hand and stood up as well.

Still an hour and a half's carriage ride away from Aubrey Hall the man in question, Miles Bridgerton, sat and stared out of the window at the English countryside slowly passing by, deeply sunken into his thoughts. After almost two years in Vienna, his home country seemed suddenly terribly uncivilised, boring and empty, almost alien to him. He could have stayed abroad longer, but his scholarship at both the Spanish Riding School and the University of Vienna had ended, so his only options were to stay at the palace in Prussia or head back home. His cousins, Walter and Klaus, might have been pleasant enough, but Miles had always disliked their father, Prince Friedrich, for some reason, so travelling back to England had been the only remaining option.