After delaying it as long as she could, Isabel Asturias is ready to make her debut onto the marriage market. Like every other mama in town, Lady Asturias hopes to gain an audience for her daughter with the season's most eligible bachelor, the Viscou...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Not not interested, Benny."
"Of course she is not not interested, Colin; her mama likely would not let her turn down the Viscount Bridgerton."
Colin and Benedict were once again going over their contradictory analyses of Miss Asturias' feelings towards Anthony. They had been playing at this game ever since the races. Benedict would not stop challenging Colin in an effort to show he was right; it hadn't worked all week.
"Did she not say she understood Anthony's terms well?" Colin interjected.
"Well, she seemed to say that. But her face displayed a sustained level of distaste."
Colin turned to him with a smirk and scrunched brows. "Are you sure that was not due to your own antics?"
Benedict put a hand to his chest, feigning pain. "Oh, you wound me, brother," he said dramatically.
They were taken out of their fruitless banter by their mother's voice.
"Colin! Benedict! Come down this instant," their mother shouted. "I fear Eloise will pull out all of her hair pins if we do not get in the carriage soon."
"Well, we can't have that," Eloise said under her breath sarcastically.
Much to their mother's satisfaction, the two boys appeared. Eloise ignored the arms they offered to her and stomped off to the carriage by herself with a profound huff.
When they stepped outside, they found Anthony checking his pocket watch which he quickly put away when he saw his mother with them.
"No funny business tonight, alright Benny?" Anthony told him.
Benedict did not respond, just went past him into the carriage while he secretly sported an amused smile.
Anthony sighed and stepped into the carriage.
The ball was precisely what was expected. Anthony continued his pursuit of young ladies, as Benedict and Colin lurked on the side. They did get to witness the presentation of Eloise to the Queen, which was perhaps even more amusing than Anthony's attempts.
"Oh my," Eloise told her brothers, her face flushed, "I think she likes me."
"Is that not a good thing?" Colin said. "Sister, you could be the diamond — or emerald, as you so prefer" — Benedict snickered at his joke — "of the season."
"I do not want to be reduced to a gemstone classification, Colin!" Eloise stormed away.
"Some things never change," Colin said to his brother with a sigh.
"Like our dear brother. Here he goes again, eliminating another young lady," Benedict said.
"I'm going to talk to some of the other gentlemen. Why don't you keep tally while I'm gone and we'll see if I can guess the total after. What do you say, dear brother?" Colin said.
