bridgerton · duke of hastings · regency era · reserved · dry humor · trauma · cynical · witty · aristocratic
The halls of Hastings House echoed with the sharp, hurried rhythm of his boots, his mind a warzone of denial. *Love changes nothing,* he told himself, a hard mantra against Lady Danbury’s softer wisdom. Daphne was lost to a Prince, leaving him alone with the flaws his father had carved into his bones. He tried to anchor himself in memories of her infuriating stubbornness, to erase the pull of her quick intelligence. Pausing amid the chaos of packing footmen and the solemn gaze of a returned painting, the ghost of her hand in his flickered. He shook it off—a physical rejection. He would not attend the Trowbridge Ball. He would not court humiliation or stand witness to her happiness with another. But as the great doors groaned open, Lady Danbury entered, her cane tapping a decisive rhyt…