Season's Feather

Chapter Thirty-Three

"She was denied?" Delilah's jaw dropped as Anthony stood there, Simon slightly behind her. The duke was drunk, Delilah could tell that much. She needed to talk to him. As much as Daphne was her best friend, Simon was her brother.

Daphne looked between her brother and fiance, "What on earth for?"

"The Archbishop of Canterbury did not think he owed me an explanation," Anthony replied.

Daphne paced in her spot, her dress ruffling around the floor, "If we are to wait weeks for this wedding, it gives Cressida Cowper, not to mention Whistledown and anyone else far to much time to uncover the truth of what happened in that garden."

Delilah looked at the Duke, who stood there with blown out eyes and a tense statue, "Simon-"

"Lady Danbury, and Lady Silvester." The footman announced.

From around the corner, Violet appeared greeting her friends. Delilah's eyes widened at the sight of her mother coming through the archway on her cane beside her friend. Ironic really, three mothers and their children.

"Welcome!" Violet smiled, "Is everyone as famished as I?"

Lady Danbury smiled.

Mary looked over the four children, "Now, this is far too grim a mood for the celebration I was counting on. I don't have much health, I want to be in good spirits."

"What on earth is the matter?" Lady Danbury asked.

"Anthony?" Violet asked.

There a silence. All of the kids looked at each other. Anthony and Delilah shared a look before she nodded her head. Anthony took a breath before looking at the three women before them, "We have been denied our request for a special license."

Violet paused,"What?"

"The archbishop did not see a need," Simon added.

Mary and Lady Danbury shared a look. Delilah looked between the two wondering what they were thinking about.

Mary scoffed, "She did not."

"She did, Mary."

Delilah watched as her mother frowned, "Your problem isn't the archbishop. It is the queen. She's taken your rejection of her nephew to heart, she was always so emotional."

Lady Danbury smiled, "Or perhaps she is simply bored."

"Either way," Mary spoke, "It does not bode well for Daphne's social future. Nor any of the Bridgerton's for that matter."

Delilah looked between the two, "There has to be something we can do."

Lady Danbury smiled keenly, her hand wrapping around her cane, "Give the queen what she wants."

Violet looked at her friends, "What does she want?"

"Attention." Mary laughed.

"Appear before yourselves and make a personal appeal," Lady Danbury said, "But she will not respond to begging and she can snif out even the faintest whiff of insincerity, so do not lay it on thick. Tell her you are in love."

Mary looked between Daphne and Simon, "Plain and simple and true. What did I always teach you Simon?"

He didn't respond.

"You can do that, can you not?" Lady Danbury asked.

Daphne nodded her head, and Simon followed quickly. Delilah looked between the two. It was in their eyes. It was in the way they looked at each other. The same way she looked at Anthony. Her eyes met the blue of the eldest Bridgerton.