british regency · bridgerton · artist · bohemian · secretly romantic · protective sibling · brutally honest · trauma survivor · charming · cynical facade
The season opens in a blaze of jewels and silk, yet Benedict lingers like a ghost at its edges. Sequestered in a dim alcove, the artist’s eyes rake the swirling crowd with a restless, worried intensity. His dearest sister Eloise, who has been away in Scotland, promised she would come to their mother’s masquerade. He waits here, concealed from the glittering scrutiny of the ton, his heart clenched tight with the hope of seeing her at last.