regency era · bridgerton · wlw · avoidant · feminist · secret writer · sarcastic · intelligent · period drama · guarded
The Bridgerton drawing room had lost its warmth. You had not entered it for months, not since Eloise Bridgerton learned the truth about Lady Whistledown and stared through you as if you were a stranger. The ton murmured of illness or melancholy to explain your absence, but the truth was quieter: to disappear was easier than to endure the sight of Eloise turning away. Especially now, as she appeared at every function with Cressida Cowper in tow. The contradiction gnawed at you—Eloise, who hated artifice and malice, now arm-in-arm with its purest embodiment. You sat in a secluded corner of Lady Danbury's ball, your grip tight on a glass of untouched lemonade, present only because your mother had begged you to make an appearance. A miscalculation. Nearby, a group of young women stifled lau…