Benedict Bridgerton x Black Reader
After travelling suspiciously from one end of England to the other The Russell's find themselves in Mayfair right in the heat of courting season, but Ayesha wants no role in such a thing. Or so she thought.
This s...
With most of the crowd dismounted from their horses as they were all tied to their respective locations, the two of you were swarmed immediately.
"What on earth happened to you two?" Lord Fife intrudes.
"Look at them, they're filthy!" You hear Lady Cowper exclaim.
"Where did you go?" Asks one voice,
"Was it an animal?" Questions another,
"Where's the princess?" And another,
All at once there were so many people swarming the two of you, neither of you able to get out more than a syllable before more questions are thrown your way. You looked to each other with panic before there's a strong voice cutting through the audience. "Make way for your majesty, the Queen!" The crowd separates down the middle, and your heads bow immediately as Queen Charlotte emerges from the crowd.
"Where is my diamond?"
The group falls silent, awaiting a response, meanwhile your brothers attempted to force their way to the center of the swarm for visibility. Eloise immediately puts on an antic disposition, suddenly riddled with heavy breathing and strained words, "She's injured, we couldn't bring her back on our own. She's stuck in the forest and requires aid."
She gives us a long, silent look, arched brow glaring at us as though something was off but anything she detected she dismissed as she looked over her shoulder to her guards, "What are you lot just standing there for. Go find her!"
With one last glance she walks away, exiting the crowd. The questions immediately resuming the moment she departed.
"Move- Move!" A loud growl is roared from Anthony's chest as he breaks through the center of the circle with Darius right behind him.
"Ayesha-" Darius shouts,
"Eloise!" Anthony does the same.
"Let's go." They say, unifying the typical protective older brother archetype as they whisked the two of you away from the crowd.
Your horse ride back home was filled with more interrogating questions that you answered to the best of your capability. "Allow me to make sure I understand this properly. In noticing the movement of something in the trees, as things do in nature, you took it upon yourself to derail from the group and throw yourself into a forest."
You huff, "Darius, that is enough." Thankfully your mother chimes in, this scolding had gone on far too long. "What were you thinking?" She adds on.
Perhaps not long enough.
"It was not my strongest moment of judgement, alright? I'm sorry for any worry I've caused you."
"Not just us, you should've seen Lady Bridgerton, she looked like she was about to faint, but she kept a calm face, much better than I did." You sigh, no matter how old you got, your mama was still protective, even more so after your father passed, but you knew it came from a place of love.
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"Have you completely lost your wits?!" Anthony had brought Eloise into the study and shut the door behind him though that couldn't muffle the sharp tone he used to any ears that listened.
"I was helping a friend."
The Viscount stops, puts his hands over his face to grasp another deep breath, resuming his lecture with a more hushed but equally annoyed tone. "You've been alive for nearly two decades of time and for the vast majority of them, I've watched you sneak biscuits off our plates and tell half-truths about where they went. You truly think I don't know when you are lying?"
Eloise could not help her amazement, "You're quite good I must say." Anthony lets a half smile slip before returning to the severity of the matter. "What actually happened?" He repeats, sitting down behind his desk while Eloise remained standing as she was still covered in the mud that was quickly drying.
"Earlier, before the equestrian began, I tried apologizing to Ayesha but she wouldn't hear me. Later on I tried to locate her once more but she was nowhere to be found. I looked to my left into the trees where I saw a horse run in the shadows. Initially, I thought she was the rider, but I was wrong." Anthony leans forward, having no clue where this story was headed but there was a growing sinking feeling in his stomach as Eloise carried on.
"The horse was as dark as the midnight sky and I'm almost certain the rider was a man, covered in all black from head to toe, his face hidden behind fabric, and the saddle of the horse had an unfamiliar crest, I tried to get a closer look but he got away, that's when I found the princess and Ayesha..... stuck in the mud."
Anthony decides to ignore Eloise's evident skimming of the end of the story as he stares at her with an unwavering intrigue, "This crest that you saw, describe it to me." Eloise begins to recall it to the best of her ability while Anthony weakly attempts to recreate it on a piece of paper.
"Like this?" Eloise makes a face, "This must be why Benedict is the artist, but I suppose that is close enough." She shrugs, "Hush, you." He says, eyes not breaking contact with the two-dimensional crest.
This is bad. This crest looks all too familiar, and for the first time ever. Anthony hoped he was wrong.
-
Anthony takes the image upstairs to Benedict's room, knocking once, then twice and deciding to grant himself entrance after no responses. Benedict had situated himself on the ledge of his window, one candle burned by his bedside while he looked out.
"Not now, Leave me be." He must admit, Benedict's behaviour as of late was new for not just him but the whole family. It was rare to see the second eldest in such a dark mood. With the hastened engagement and the disastrous dinner, it's hard to imagine anyone smiling through it all.
"I think you'll want to see this." Anthony closes the door behind him and lights another candle for better sight. Benedict slowly turns away from the window. Watching Anthony place the sketch on the paper.
"Eloise just informed me about a mysterious horseman she saw in the forest this afternoon, this is how she described the crest on the saddle." Benedict stands to get a better view and he immediately begins to scramble around the vicinity searching for the ledger he'd had his nose buried in all morning.
Laying the ledger side by side with the paper, the crests, nearly identical (aside from Anthony's lack of artistic capabilities). "What does this mean?" Benedict asks.
"Ms. Russell may be in more danger than we thought."
