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"𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒏𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒖𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏' 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒓,"
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chapter two: 1231 words
"WELCOME DEAR," VIOLET WELCOMED me with open arms and enveloped me in a hug. I gave her a short squeeze before attempting an escape but was unsuccessful.
I could see it in her eyes from the moment she met me, Lady Bridgteron pitied me. She always offered me the extra slice of pie at dessert, always looked at me a little too long with a sad smile on her face, always hugged me a little bit too tight.
She was an incredibly kind and thoughtful woman, but every time she looked at me I could see the sorrow in her eyes. The 'poor thing's whole immediate family is dead ' and it was for this reason that I kept up my happy demeanour around Violet. Of course, I adored her as a mother-in-law but I didn't need more pity. My dead family had not been mentioned by the Ton, Simon had told me, for the last few years. Now that I was back they would presumably return to their pitying faces and 'I'm so sorry for your loss ' I had been prepared for the Ton to say those things, but not someone who was practically family to me.
"Now where is he?" Lady Bridgerton asked before spotting Xander in Simons's arms. She swiftly scooped him up and swept him into the next room baby talking to him as they went.
"SIMON!" Hyacinth came sprinting down the stairs, followed by Gregory and who I assumed was Francessca. The girl was wearing a pink dress and I was told Eloise never wore pink. The girl also carried herself with a very ladylike manner and from what I had gathered Eloise did not.
"You must be Aurelia," Francessca took my hands in hers and squeezed them.
"And you must be Francessca," I replied and from the glint, in her green eyes I concluded that my assumption was correct. Francessca let go of my hands and embraced both Daph and Simon in a hug.
"You two must be tired from travelling all day," she observed, noticing the dark circles under the Duke and Duchesses eyes.
"Actually the exhaustion comes from your nephew. He apparently does not like to sleep through the night," Simmon chuckled dryly.
"That could have been easily avoided had you not decided to marry and have children, Daphne," a voice said sarcastically from the doorframe to our left. I turned my head and met the gaze of a girl with light grey eyes, leaning with her arms crossed against the side of the doorframe.
"Eloise," Daphne sighed, "you could have greeted Aurelia before commenting on that,"
"I prefer to let people know who I am immediately, therefore, they cannot tell me they never knew how sarcastic I was," Eloise quipped and I watched her small pink lips curve into an 'I told you so' smirk. I had to bite my lip to refrain from laughing, and reminded myself that she was competition. By God she was beautiful, I must not be seen next to her if I wished to find myself a husband this season. A smaller part of my brain was focusing on how I didn't want to wed this season, and she seemed nice enough. She might just be faking kindness, she was a Bridgerton and had a higher status than me. I was a duke's cousin with a dead family, she had much more to offer than me.
"Let me show you where you're staying," Francessca cut in and grabbed my hand. I waved a small goodbye to Eloise as Francessca swept me up the stairs to do a grand tour.
The Bridgerton's had a nice home. Not only was it massive, but it also had a home-like feeling to it. Fran showed me to my room and then pointed out that her room was beside me and that Eloise's room was right down the hall. My room was light blue and had a window on the west side that let in the last few rays of sunlight.
"I'll let you take some time for yourself before dinner," she smiled at me kindly before closing the door.
I flopped backwards onto my bed and let out a sigh. So this was going to be life for this summer season, or at least until I married. That was a horrifying thought. I simply could not imagine myself being wed to a man. Yes, I had only kissed a boy when I was five, but I could not picture myself feeling the way Simon does to Daphne towards someone. I had loved my parents, but they had both died and left me. I never wanted to feel the way I felt when my parents died ever again. The feeling of emptiness that consumed my heart and soul was the worst I had ever felt. I didn't want to set myself up for that feeling, but I also had my duty. If I never married my social status would plummet, and Simon's would probably be hurt as well. I could not do that to my cousin after everything he'd done for me.
My paranoid thoughts of marriage carried on until someone knocked on my door.
"Miss? It's time for dinner," my maid Ellie said through the muffled door. I waited until the sound of her footsteps receded, Ellie always wanted to talk and frankly I wasn't in the mood for that right now. When I was sure she was gone I sat up fast, too fast in fact. Stars flew across my vision as I stumbled across the room and I ran right into the door, hitting the floor with a THUNK.
"Whoa, are you okay?" someone said from the door. My face flushed as I looked up at Eloise, the feeling of embarrassment consuming me.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I tried to pretend as if nothing happened and my words came out a little harsh. She was a Bridgerton in fact, and here I was with little to no family, barely any status. I could only begin to imagine what she was thinking about me. How I was clumsy, probably ill ridden and doomed with the rest of my family.
She offered me her hand and I pushed it away in an attempt to stand. I succeded, at first but then fell forwards. She stepped in front of me to stop me from plummeting face-first into the floor and caught my shoulders in the palms of her hands. My head landed on her chest and caused her to take a step backwards.
"Blazes Aurelia, be careful," she chuckled and my face turned scarlet. My vision had returned to normal at this point, and I took that moment to push her away from me. I started down the stairs, feeling the tears welling up in my eyes, and looked back at her. She looked hurt by my actions and harsh words, but frankly, I didn't really care.
Or at least I thought I didn't care. For some reason, that expression on her face clouded my thoughts for the rest of the evening.
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