Carina grew restless in her bead, tossing and turning all around for hours, yet, sleep still seemed to evade her. Deciding some milk might help, she walks to the kitchen when she runs into Daphne, who had been holed up in the library, and invited her along.
Going down the stairs towards the kitchens, she hears Anthony call out to them, "Sisters? Whatever are you two doing?"
They both jumped up, not expecting anyone to be up and turned around at an instant, "I could not sleep. I thought a bit of milk might help matters." Carina replies after settling from the scare, "Ran into Daph wandering about and decided it might do wonders for her too."
"Should I ring for a servant?" he immediately questioned.
"No. No, do not wake them." Carina immediately shuts him down,
"Would you like to join us, instead?" Daphne questions.
Thus there they were, standing in front of the stove, as Daphne and Anthony tried to prompt each other to light it up while Carina enjoys seeing them at loss of words and sense, drinking her cold milk, exactly how she prefers it in the summertime.
"We should light it." Daphne starts,
"Excellent idea." Anthony offers, ever so helpful .
"Well, go on." she retorts.
"Me?"
"I should not know how to do it." Daphne told him as if he was stupid, which he sometimes was but still.
"And you believe I should?" He answers back, Carina had trouble keeping quiet.
"Cold milk, then." Daphne decides.
"Most refreshing, given the heat." Anthony immediately agrees.
And Carina just laughed out, "Oh, move over!" She says, as she goes ahead, lights the stove, grabs the milk from Daphne's hands and puts it in a pot on the stove to heat it up.
All while her siblings stared at her open mouthed.
Finally paying any heed to their curiosities as she turns to face them, she speaks up with a sigh, "Baby Gregory and new born Hyacinth would often wake at night due to hunger, and mother was barely in any condition to breastfeed. Not to mention Eloise and Fransesca were all but just toddlers. I did not like waking up the servants each night, so after a couple of weeks, I decided to learn how this thing worked and do it myself."
They all fell silent for a while, just sipping their milks after Carina served it to them. All Anthony could do was feel the immense guilt for not seeing it any sooner, for letting his sister go through it all alone, and then making matters so much more worse for her with the Nigel situation.
Daphne thought back to the night she could not sleep due to Anthony and Carina's shouts. She thought back to all the things she had heard and the talk Carina had with her and Eloise the other day.
She felt so grateful to her elder sister she could not even dare to describe it in words, all she knew was, she could never lose her.
"Can I ask you a question, Brother?" Daphne spoke up after a good while.
"So long as it has nothing to do with the inner workings of that thing. You might have to ask Carina." he says as the three of them chuckle.
"It is about the duke." she says. Now that raised Carina's interest.
"What about the duke?" he demands, his brotherly nature showing up.
"Well... Carina once told me he does not wish to marry, but he seems so taken with her, he looks at her like he is in love, yet... Do you know the reason he is so opposed to marriage" she says, causing Carina to have a frown on her face at her words.
What on god's green earth was her sister seeing? What was this hallucination about. Also, what she was quite distraught about was how she precisely asked Daphne to never repeat her words about not wanting to marry the Duke to any other soul, however she seemed to have forgotten that.
On one particularly taxing night, as the sisters were having a bath in the same chambers, Daphne gushed about her Viscount and the Duke, wanting to discuss about their possible future husbands when Carina lost all patience she had and revealed to her how her and the Duke were fooling everyone.
How it was a ruse to benefit both of them in their own way and how despite that, they remained good friends and good friends only.
"What do you mean Carina told you?" He said, not aware her sister knew of this, thinking she was expecting a proposal from the Duke.
"Daph..." Carina says in a warning.
"He is your closest friend. Surely you must know things." Daphne says desperately, ignoring Carina. She might not understand why Daphne has to do this but she would surely appreciate it when she marries the Duke.
For Carina might not admit it to anyone but Daphne sees how she looks at that man. He has her elder sister wrapped around his finger and he does not even know, or appreciate it, and that angers the young girl.
Her sister, her strong, beautiful, independent sister gave up so much for her and her siblings that she forgot to take care of herself. And finally in love, finally having a chance at happiness, she must give it up too?
Daphne could not stand that. Ever since that night hearing that argument, she had been thinking. All her life her sister has loved others and never expected any in return.
Now it is her turn to be loved, and Daphne will make sure she is not hurt by a man, let alone one that does not even realise what a beautiful person she was.
"The things I know are certainly not for your ears." Anthony says, as Carina chokes on her drink and slaps his shoulder, "Anthony, not in front of Daphne!"
"How foolish of me to ever even wonder about such things." Daphne says, pouting her lips and widening her eyes just the right bit, with the perfect amount of wobble on her bottom lip and the dejected look-
"He barely knew his father." She smiled internally, Anthony and Carina might have raised her as surrogate parents more than elder siblings, but they all share the same blood, and anyone who truly knows the Bridgertons knows how much they love any and all things dramatic.
All of them can act to get what they want, and Daphne wants her sister's happiness. And a good thing she knows her older siblings as well. She knows just how to melt Carina and just what to do to pull at Anthony's heartstrings.
"Never knew his mother. Not one sibling. The duke grew up...quite differently than us, Daph." Anthony continues,
"In all the 20 years I have known him, he has not mentioned his so-called family even once. He has spent his entire life alone." he says.
"How very sad." she says, clearly not at all sad or sympathetic.
"He prefers it that way. You must not concern yourself with his troubles. You must simply know some people are not meant to be together... no matter... how much we might wish otherwise." he says.
"I see. Very well. Thank you, Brother, for the milk. We will have to do this again sometime." and off she went, maybe off to bed to sleep or maybe off to write a certain Viscount, needing his help in concocting a brilliant scheme.
Now alone with Anthony, Carina turned to him and asked, "who were you talking about?"
"Pardon?"
"Just then, when you said sometimes two people are just not meant to be together no matter what they wish, you went somewhere else, you were thinking about someone. Who was it? Was it Sienna?"
He sighs and looks down, defeated, "Yeah, yes it was Sienna."
"What happened?" she asks, wanting to comfort him.
"I broke things off, but I just, miss her, so so much. I yearn for her." he whispers, with his hands on his face. "And now she is with other men and..."
"Brother, stop. First you must ask yourself, whether you truly hold affections for her or are you just feeling this out of jealousy. And if you truly... love her, do not give up on her, you do not give up on the one you love due to what society may say." she says as she hugs him sideways.
"Thank you sister, and I apologise, for all my rash actions this seasons, for all the horrid decisions I made and the things I said. The way I treated you, no lady, yet alone one's own sister, should have ever been treated that way. And I apologise for all those years I was blind to your struggles, for how you were left alone to deal with so much as a mere child and I did not help you." he said, nearly crying.
"It is perfectly alright. I was hurt, sure but I do understand. You had your own demons to face, your own challenges. You only did what you thought was right, no one should be faulted for that Anthony. We all make mistakes, what is necessary is for one to admit and repent for theirs." she smiles.
He pondered for a bit, then turned to her, "What did she mean you told her Basset does not wish to marry?"
Carina yawned, stood up, and stretched her arms, "It is quite late is it not brother? I am so exhausted I must tell you. See you tomorrow morning then, I shall go retire for the day. Good night, brother." And she was out, "No Carina- just, alright then." Anthony sighs as he leaves alone, and with a lot of questions for a certain friend of his.
With relief from successfully escaping Anthony, she let out a fit of giggles at his expense and then went to bed, this time sleep coming easy.
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Author's Note:
Aaaaaaand I'm back people! Enjoy the chapter... And please don't forget to comment and vote!!! <3