Through the Grapevine [ BRIDGERTON]

Two Can Play

By the time Cassandra had arrived home with Eloise, she had regained her composure and had sat almost the whole carriage ride in silence. The events that had occurred tonight in the church still seemed to befuddle Cassandra, and she knew what she had seen was indeed the truth.

That was her brother that had went to the pew, there is not a doubt in Cassandra's mind. Colin more than likely had walked to the pew to see if Cassandra had left a note, which ended up still being in a pocket of her cloak. Colin must have assumed that since there was no note, it was not necessary for him to leave anything or to linger around the church.

The greatest question that weighed on Cassandra's mind was why. Why him? And she will never know unless she asks her brother. But with the event that transpired tonight, it would be best not to ask him tonight.

When the carriage had came to a halt Cassandra left the carriage as fast as she could possibly could, not even bothering to wait for Eloise. Bursting through the door of the servant's hall, servants were bustling about the corridor, and some even quietly yelped as Cassandra had pushed past them, completely unbothered to acknowledge their presence.

Making her way to her room she closed the door, pressing her back to it as if she desired to keep away the tornado of thoughts that was swirling after her. It took her a moment to find her breath before she stepped away from the door, stripped herself of her garments and crawled into bed. It was difficult for her mind to rest at ease, however as time drifted on, she eventually fell asleep.

----

Only about four hours had passed from when the Bridgerton sisters had arrived home, and only four hours of precious sleep was Cassandra able to possess. After the tiresome ritual of getting dressed for the day with Rose's help, Cassandra shuffled herself into the drawing room.

Her mother was the only one absent from the room, and all of her siblings, of course except Francesca; appeared to be in light spirits. Daphne was playing the pianoforte, Benedict was sitting on the sofa, his feet dangling over the armrest and was fixated on his sketchbook. Eloise was reading like always and she was sharing the sofa with Benedict, on the side that Benedict was draping his feet over. Benedict was enjoying himself and enjoyed teasing Eloise, as she attempted to read her book but found herself irritated with the extra weight of Benedict's legs on her. Gregory and Hyacinth were playing harmoniously enough on the floor with marbles, Anthony was reading the newspaper in the armchair.

And then there was Colin eating biscuits and enjoying a cup of tea.

Colin.

It felt as if a fire had ignited within Cassandra, her body feeling hot with rage as she saw her twin brother. Trembling as she attempted to gain her composure, it felt nearly impossible as he turned to her and spoke her name in greeting. As she heard her name and his voice, she lost all sense of her wits. Striding across the room at what felt like great speed, she found herself in front of his chair and pulled him to stand up by his tie.

Colin's protests had alerted the other siblings as to what is transpiring, Anthony and Benedict both called for Cassandra to release him however she paid her brothers no mind. Eloise was enjoying the spectacle, laughing and mumbles ' He deserves it'.

' She needs to let him go now! That is no way to behave as a lady!' Anthony argued. Cassandra's head snapped towards her eldest brother and glared. ' Shut it, do you want to be in the same position as Colin, brother? No? I do not think so. This is between Colin and me.'

' Brother, where is your sense of fun? If he deserves it, let it be. Why even bother to intervene?' Benedict inquired before resuming back to his sketchbook.

Focusing her attention back to her twin brother, and pulled Colin up to eye level. Their identical eyes bore into each other's, Colin's eyes held a bit of surprise in them; he did not expect this behavior from his sister but he knew she was capable of it as she was rather hot headed as a child.

With Colin being about a foot taller than her, Cassandra held him in a position to suffer where his legs were locked and couldn't extend all the way to his full height. He attempted to pull away from her but she kept a firm grip on the material, shaking her head with a cold laugh and whispers in his ear.

' You brother think you're so clever, don't you? I know your little secret, do not think I do not. If you keep deciding to play this game a little longer, I could play too. And you know better than anyone...' she falters, looks him dead in the eye before resuming ' I do not like to lose.'

She let go of his tie and took a biscuit before sauntering over to the seat opposite Benedict and Eloise, signing as she began to calm down. Eating somewhat happily, her mother came into the room just a few minutes later; Cassandra grateful her mother missed the spectacle between the twins. Her mother came over to her with a note in her hand, extending it to her.

Cassandra took it wearily, reading the note:

Miss Cassandra,

I seem to have missed you at Saint James the other night, why did you not come? If we can not correspond in that way, I shall make myself known to you. It is about high time I should reveal myself, is it not? Or maybe we can let this arrangement go on a bit longer. We shall see... Next ball, look for me in green.

A

Crumpling up the paper quickly as she read it, she had given the letter to Humboldt to toss away for her. No one else could know about this besides Colin.

Violet looked at her eldest daughter, concerned. ' Is everything alright dearest?' She inquired, and Cassandra gave her mother a half hearted smile and nodded. ' Everything is perfectly fine mother. In fact, it was just a letter from Penelope. Nothing important.' Cassandra lied easily to her mother. She fixated her eyes on her elder brothers, and back at Colin.

The twins' faces shared many emotions, their eyes conveying a thousand silent words. They were words only the twins would understand, and Cassandra could not wait to understand and find out who was behind the words of those mysterious letters.