A Secret Ambition

XXIII

"You fell in love with a storm. Did you really think you would get out unscathed?" Nikita Gill

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XXIII.

Lily could hardly hear the herald as he announced the Season's debutantes into the grand reception hall over the noise that her heart was making. It was not a steady thunder, but an erratic, irregular beat that sounded entirely unhealthy.

By the expression upon Jackie's face, Lily could surmise that her cousin was feeling much the same way. Jackie looked entirely unlike herself. She was always beautiful, of course, but the way that she was dressed was in stark contrast to her regular apparel. Her light blonde hair was swept up in divine twists and braids, all pinned to suit and celebrate the enchanting tiara that sat atop her head. Jackie's green eyes caught Lily's briefly, and it was not an expression of support that she offered, but one that simply said, "What are we doing here?"

Belle had certainly outdone herself with the dresses that both Jackie and Lily were wearing, and both girls were nervously fidgeting with the white gloves that reached past their elbows.

Cecily, on the other hand, might have been the happiest woman to have ever lived on that very evening. She looked twenty years younger and ever so elegant in her own deep emerald gown made for her by Belle. She was tastefully draped in jewels to match and sported her own fabulous tiara.

"There is nothing to be nervous about, girls," Cecily assured them while simultaneously smiling bigger than Lily had ever seen before. Her eyes were simply filled to the brim with pure delight. "We shall enter proudly, and the both of you will curtsey to Her Majesty. Hold your heads high. Your hands will be perhaps the most sought after this Season. The return of the Beresfords to London society will be much talked about, and I certainly have two extraordinary horses in the race."

"Grandmamma, we are not horses," Jackie uttered as the lady in front of them was called upon, and she nervously entered the hall on the arm of her mother.

"You are right," Cecily agreed, before she turned to face both Jackie and Lily. "You are my granddaughters, and don't you ever forget who you are. You are both rare jewels, and brilliant ones at that. I pray you have the experience in the Season that you deserve, and that so many young ladies yearn for. You will command every ballroom you enter and know that you have not a care in the world for what might come out of it. Your fathers have worked hard to secure you dowries that will give you choice ... but choose wisely. Marriages tend to have a habit of lasting decades, and it does not do to realise the merit of one's partner on their deathbed."

"I fear I shall never command a ballroom, Grandmamma. A printing room, perhaps, but a ballroom?" Jackie murmured nervously.

"And that is where Grandmamma comes in, dear one. Watch and learn, and soon enough your tongue will whip your opponents just as well as mine does."

Lily trembled as her grandmother took her arm once more, collecting Jackie's as well. As she stepped forward to be next introduced to the queen, and to society, she truly felt Callan slip through her fingers.

In reality, Lily knew that he, and any prospects of him, were already gone. But it was at this moment that Lily Bennett truly vanished, and Lady Cecily Beresford materialised.

And just as Lily had never been called 'Cecily' in her life, she had never felt like more of an imposter then she did right at that moment, and the hypocrisy of that realisation was not lost on her.

"Presenting Lady Cecily Beresford, daughter of the Duke of Ashwood, and Miss Jacqueline Beresford, daughter of Lord Jack Beresford, escorted by the Dowager Duchess of Ashwood."