𝐓𝐎 𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐎 𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐃

𝖬𝖤𝖭 𝖠𝖭𝖣 𝖡𝖠𝖡𝖮𝖮𝖭𝖲

✰

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐎𝐅 𝐋𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐒 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐎 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃 𝐏𝐎𝐄𝐓𝐑𝐘 𝐀𝐋𝐎𝐔𝐃 𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐀𝐃𝐈𝐄𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐎𝐍 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐈𝐄𝐃 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐄𝐋𝐅 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐎𝐈𝐑𝐄𝐄. "And why won't you be attending?" Anastasia inquired to her mother who had not left her bed and held cards filled with the portraits of ladies and a pamphlet of Lady Whisteldown.

"Because if I wanted to watch fools I could visit one of your brothers but it is a sight I do not wish to endure," she twirled a piece of her curl on her finger. "Besides, I feel as though I am mere moments away from capturing this Whistledown."

Charlotte had a evil twinkle in her eye as she seemed to be matching the young ladies to each corner of the tray. Anastasia came to stand by her mother and loomed over her shoulder to see several familiar names but she plucked Eloise Bridgerton's from the pile and pinched it between her fingers.

"Well, you can remove her from your list of targets, she is certainly not Whistledown," the princess held it in her hand but her mother clawed it back and held it.

"I think your emerald clouds your sense of judgement, my dear." The Queen pondered Eloise's card once more, "last season I tasked her in revealing who Lady Whistledown truly was but perhaps she never unveiled her because in actual fact she was covering her own tracks." Charlotte seemed pleased with her own theory as she hummed in agreement to herself whilst Anastasia looked at her oddly.

"No mama, Eloise is not Lady Whistledown and perhaps the reason she was unable to appease your quest in finding your nemesis might have simply been because of the pressure you bestowed upon her." Anastasia stared her mother down with a fire in her eyes whilst Charlotte appeared baffled, her daughter reached over and took the picture from her hands once more. "Good day, mother," she curtsied before turning on her heel.

Anastasia started at the picture in her hand as she walked, she could throw it in the fire place but to ruin such a perfect portrait seemed criminal. Instead, she found the book with a dark blue spine and gold embroidery before slipping the photo in the centre of the novel.

"Pamela," she called over her shoulder and her maid arrived in seconds with a bright smile.

"Yes, Miss?"

"May you fit me in the blue and gold gown for tonight, I'm feeling the need for something bold." Anastasia murmured to herself as she trailed her pointer finger over the rough cover of the book where the corner of the portrait peaked from.

𝐋𝐀𝐃𝐘 𝐃𝐀𝐍𝐁𝐔𝐑𝐘𝐒 𝐒𝐎𝐈𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐒 𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐒𝐀𝐏𝐎𝐈𝐍𝐓 𝐀𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐒𝐈𝐀 𝐆𝐀𝐙𝐄𝐃 𝐔𝐏𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐀𝐃𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐄𝐃 𝐈𝐍 𝐅𝐋𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐒. As she crossed the threshold she gave polite smiles to those strangers who admired her or when strangers spoke to her as if they personally knew her but only a genuine grin was saved for the rarest of people.

"Princess," Lady Danbury opened her arms wide as she presented her living room which appeared to have turned into that of a circus.