TWO ALONG THEIR WAY ┃a. bridgerton

9: thoughts and feelings

When Anna slept, she dreamt that she was visited by a figure of death, dressed in a dark, oversized cloak, wrapped in otherworldly shadows and carrying a large scythe that could slice her in half if it so wanted. But it did not, because when she asked the reaper to slice her in two, it laughed so deeply that it shook the ground of the void they stood in. And it laughed and laughed until she woke up wondering why she had dreamt of it. She could find no meaning.

With a new day ahead, she pushed it and several other things aside in favour of busying herself with her sisters. Edwina and Kate were only just waking up when she stepped into their room. She gave her youngest sister a tight hug and sent her maid away in favour of helping her prepare herself.

"Didi," Edwina asked, looking up at her sister through the mirror as she fixed parts of her hair back into a tidy updo. Anna was almost startled just by being spoken to, but her little sister did not seem to notice it, only that she'd been unintentionally frowning. "Is it the sting?"

"What are you talking about?" she questioned, swallowing down the lump in her throat.

"Is it still bothering you?" Edwina inquired. "It seems ever since the awful creature pricked you, you've been keeping to yourself."

"It is not the bee," Anna replied honestly, finishing with Edwina's hair and placing a kiss to the top of her head. She stepped away and sighed deeply, stretching her arms out it front of her. "In truth, I have not been sleeping very well. But it is of no matter. How are you feeling after everything?"

Edwina sighed. "The viscount's mind seems elsewhere lately. I thought I'd be announcing an engagement at tomorrow night's ball."

"I cannot imagine what else his mind would be on but you, bon," Kate chipped in. She stared at Anna with a burning gaze, as if she knew something. There was surely no way she knew about her moment with Anthony, but Kate was good at reading her all the same, the best person at it, in fact.

"Quite right," Anna agreed. She scratched the back of her neck, suddenly feeling as if the world was spinning. "Edwina, whatever happens, things will work out for you. We will make sure of it."

"You say that as if you have already given up on him!" Edwina sighed defeatedly. "He is the one I want, Ina. His family, this home, the life he offers me. I have been thinking and I am now quite certain of why he did not make his declaration. It is because of you."

Anna chuckled nervously at the statement. She looked at Kate, either silently asking for help or just wondering if she'd said something. "I... Me?"

"You hate one another!" Edwina exclaimed, and the eldest breathed a sigh of relief.

"Edwina..." she groaned, putting her hands to her temples and pacing the room. "I do not hate the viscount. I have already said I would not stand in the way if he chose to marry you. I did not tell him not to propose. He made that decision on his own."

"But saying it and acting like it are different things," Edwina pointed out. "It is clear from your exchanges with the viscount that he shares your feelings. All this time, I thought I needed your help getting him to fall in love with me. But what I realise is I need your help getting him to fall in love with you."

"This is a bad idea," Anna declared.

"For once, I agree," Kate mumbled, so low that only her older sister could hear as she paced by her bed. Anna stopped once more with a heavy sigh.

"I am being civil," she said carefully. "I am being agreeable, and I have told him already that it is your decision and not mine. If I intimidate him that much that he cannot propose, it is not my fault."