ₚᵣᵢᵥₐₜₑ 𝒹ₑₜₑ𝒸ₜᵢᵥₑ |ᴬⁿᵗʰᵒⁿʸ ᴮʳᶦᵈᵍᵉʳᵗᵒⁿ

• 𝗍ᥕᥱᥣ᥎ᥱ •

ᴛᴡᴏ ᴅᴀʏs ʟᴀᴛᴇʀ

𝐷𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠, 𝑖𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑚𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑛𝑒𝑔𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑚𝑦 𝑑𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑡ℎ𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑖𝑑𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑠𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑒. 𝐼𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑦 𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑦𝑒𝑡 𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑛 𝑎 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑑 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑔 𝑀𝑖𝑠𝑠 𝐸𝑛𝑜𝑙𝑎 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑚𝑒𝑠.

𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑔 𝑙𝑎𝑑𝑦 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑆ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑘 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑚𝑒𝑠, 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑑𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑢𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑓𝑎𝑖𝑙 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑣𝑒.

𝐴𝑠 𝑎 𝑠𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑒𝑟, 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑢𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑛𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑖𝑟𝑙, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑚𝑠 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑤𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡. 𝑅𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑙𝑦, 𝑠ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐷𝑢𝑘𝑒, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑢𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑟𝑢𝑙𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑃𝑟𝑢𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑎 𝑎𝑡 𝑣𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑠𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑔𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠.

𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑚𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑠 ℎ𝑖𝑑𝑑𝑒𝑛 𝑏𝑒ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑓𝑎𝑐̧𝑎𝑑𝑒. 𝑅𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑙𝑦, 𝑎𝑡 𝑆𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑡 𝐻𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒, 𝑖𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑠 𝑎 𝑐𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑛𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑉𝑖𝑠𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡 𝑇𝑒𝑤𝑘𝑒𝑠𝑏𝑢𝑟𝑦, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝐵𝑎𝑠𝑖𝑙𝑤𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟.

𝑁𝑜𝑡 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑑𝑖𝑑 ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑘 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑔𝑖𝑟𝑙𝑠 𝑏𝑜𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑙 𝑡𝑜 𝑔𝑒𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑢𝑡, ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑔 𝑀𝑖𝑠𝑠 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑠𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡.

𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑢𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑟 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑛𝑜𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑏𝑒ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑠. 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝐼 𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢, 𝐼 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑝 𝑠𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛 𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑠𝑓𝑦 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑟𝑖𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑛𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑟𝑦 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟.

Enola groaned in embarrassment. This wasn't what she had planned to happen. And while she was suddenly the dubious woman, Lady Whistledown went on and on about Cressida Cowper and how gracefully she had mastered the art of swooning.