❝i'm sorry i'm not an easy person to want.❞
❝who said i wanted easy? i don't crave easy, i crave goddamn difficult.❞
OR
In which the eldest Bridgerton daughter and the Duke of Hastings mutually dismiss the notions of love and marriage, only to find...
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i don't like anticipating my face in a red flush, i don't like that anyone would die to feel your touch. everybody wants you
Governor Square, 1813
The Bridgerton name had always been held in high regard across the Ton, but now holding more bounty than ever with their perfectly handsome sons and perfectly beautiful daughters coming of age. Anthony, Benedict and Colin, the eldest three sons, enriched themselves with education, sexual partners and drinking - while Delilah and Daphne were not rewarded the same fate. Over the years of sixteen to twenty one, the darling twins became proficient in wearing corsets and flattering dresses, learning how to be a doting wife and diversifying their musical talents.
Daphne took to it like a duck to water. But Delilah's path thus far had been filled with far more thorns; she couldn't accept living solely for pleasing a man and bearing children. In her own thoughts, she knew she was meant for so much more.
"I should think if you tighten those strings anymore, Rose, I shall faint within the hour." The elder twin's usual satirical tone brought a short chuckle to her maid's lips. Rose strained on the lilac laces once more before fastening them behind the bodice.
"Your mama would have liked me to tighten it at least eight more times, my lady. I should want you to last at least two hours at the ball though." Rose winked at Delilah through the large mirror, adjusting her stockings and underskirt while the debutante played with the sapphire pendants dangling from her ears. Her mother had worn them for her first ball three decades ago and insisted the gems brought good luck, as that night introduced her to Lord Bridgerton.
The thoughts of her father came to a halt as a sharp knock landed against the dressing room's door. "Lilah, are you decent?" Eloise fretted momentarily, not caring for an answer before barging in and sticking a small concertinaed piece of paper in her face.
"Yes, El, thank you ever so much for awaiting my response and respecting our sisterly boundaries." Delilah drawled, taking hold of the sheet as it flapped in her face once more. "Am I supposed to care what this pertains to?"
Her eyes flitted across the print, reading her own name next to the words 'angelic' and 'ethereal'.
"I thought you might since, oh I do not know, she named yourself and Daph this season's incomparables. Our sister could barely contain her joy."
"Oh." Was all the elder twin could muster. The wind knocked itself out of her lungs and her heart began to thud rather than beat at its usual pace. Delilah already understood many more eyes than usual would be on her tonight, at the first ball of the season, due to her last name. But this felt like a target more than an accomplishment.
