Bridgerton - The Lost Royal

Chapter Twenty-Three

Benedict

Hyacinth squeezes my hand very tight, "Benedict..." She breathes, seeing the same thing I'm seeing.

"She's okay." I say more to myself than anyone else. Sophia is looking down at everyone, the queen by her side. She was right after all, she was the lost princess and now she is back home, with her real family.

It would have been nice, had she informed of this a little earlier, so I did not need to spend every minute of the past two days worrying about her wellbeing. I thought the worst, prison, kidnapping, even execution seemed plausible in my mind after that amount of radiosilence.

But she's here now, wearing a gown overflown with sparkling diamonds, her hair pinned up elegantly, with a heavy necklace placed on her collarbones. Gloves cover her hands, hands that are fidgeting with each other, a sign that she is nervous.

"Please, continue the music." The queen orders, once all the guests have stopped uttering 'oohs' and 'aahs'. And so the music starts playing, forcing everyone's eyes back to the dancefloor and away from Sophia. But not mine. I can't help it, no matter how hard I try to keep eyecontact with my brother Anthony, who suddenly seems to have no problem at all when it comes to me marrying Sophia.

"Wait what?" I ask, my eyes flickering from him to Sophia and back, "Marriage?"

"Well, she did live in our house for multiple days, we gave her dresses and food, the least she could do is return the favor." Anthony says sternly.

"You think Sophia would marry me?" My eyes finally leaving Sophia and sticking with him.

"Well who else, Benedict? I already have a wife, thank you very much." Anthony retorts.

I shake my head, "She won't. She is the future queen of England, she can do whatever she wants, and that does not involve marrying me, I am sure." I say, realising just now how true those words are. Sophia and I got along just fine, but now that we no longer share a home and she has all the attention, she will most likely forget about me before I've gotten the chance to say goodbye.

"Well do go talk to her, it is never a bad thing to have a royal on your side." Anthony says and he pushes me forward. I turn around, scanning the room and all the people in it, finding Sophia at last. She is surrounded by men, all asking her to dance it seems, something that did not happen before she was a royal I am sure.

Sophia looks around helplessly, clearly not too interested in all those fine young men getting closer and closer to her. I stride over, a surge of protectiveness hits me when I spot one of the many men touching her arm. I get to them and her eyes meet mine. I see it happen, the way the scared look on her face fades, and her eyes soften. Ease falls over her, shoulders dropping, her mouth opens with a relieved exhale,

"Benedict." she says, taking my outstretched hand with some urgency, desperate to be pulled aside.

"Are you alright?" I ask, once we have moved far away from the mass of young men.

"I'm fine." she looks down, "everything is fine." She whispers.

"Is it?" I tilt my head to the side, lifting up her chin with my fingertips.

"I have no idea." she lets out a soft laugh, "I feel like I'm losing my mind."

I offer her my arm, "then let's dance, it helps with letting go." I wink, something I cannot remember having done before. Sophia raises an eyebrow and chuckles,

"You need to work on that." she smiles as we step onto the dancefloor. I place my hand on her waist, her face close to mine.

"I wanted to thank you, for taking me in and well... everything after that. You all have become like family to me." she says.

Family? Like a brother?

"Eh.." Sophia starts. 

Wait, I said that out loud?

"Sure, like a... brother."