Sweet Honour- Benedict Bridgerton

26. The Creation of Adam

It might've been nicer to have actually understood the nightmares. Victoria might have found out more about her headspace if she knew what was happening beyond the dark expanse behind her lids most nights; was there tarantulas, sickness, heights or monsters? Perhaps she would've been able to seek a fortune teller or head doctor to decipher what they meant, but nonetheless, there was a sweetness in the softness of her breaths as she woke this time. Her eyes fluttered open to streams of golden morning sunlight through her windows and her ears began to regard the chirping birds on the trees out there somewhere, her body getting used to the feeling of her weight on the bed, the blanket upon her and the... oh god. 

Victoria looked to her left and then dragged her eyes down toward the floor, where they met a peacefully sleeping Benedict Bridgerton. Dear God! 

One of her hands rested upon her stomach, and the other... held tightly by Benedict, whose arm was outstretched and upright to clasp onto her hand. A strange feeling overcame her, like that of guilt or anxiety. Maybe this is what it is like to get drunk and wake up the next morning, she thought. 

"Ben." She whisper-shouted down to him, propping herself up on her free elbow. Benedict didn't move an inch, nor did he stir. She had an almost cruel thought, but it seemed hilarious. She dropped is hand and it fell straight onto his face, to which she let out a little laugh, careful though to still be quiet, the clock said nine in the morning. 

Benedict shot straight upright like a corpse brought back to life and Victoria couldn't keep her laugh in. She sat up fully and looked down at him, he blinked a few times and turned to her. 

"What time is it?" He asked. 

"All but nine, Benedict." 

"Thank goodness," he said "I have to meet-" he stopped himself abruptly and seemed to swallow his words and his face became apologetic. 

"I understand." Victoria said, fiddling with her fingers. 

"I am sorry." He said.

"Please, do not be. You have no reason to be." Foolishly, she had broken herself with forgetting about Maude in the time her and Benedict spend together that night. The impossibility of it all stung her heart. How could she expect him to forget her overnight just like she had? 

Benedict nodded slowly. "I really must be going." He stood up and took his coat from where it rested on the sofa chair, draping it over his arm. Victoria could see the cogs working in his mind, he was looking at the door yet he stood as still as prey in the eyes of a predator. 

In one swift motion, he walked back to her and leant down, placing a small but tender kiss to her forehead. She grabbed his arm before he could walk off again. 

"How did I get here?" She asked, searching his eyes for something she didn't quite know. 

"I carried you." He let out a breath he seemed to have been holding in forever. "You were fast asleep and the tree was uncomfortable." He said matter-of-factly. 

She nodded and smiled softly, giving his arm a squeeze before letting him go. 

"Wait, Ben." She whispered, to which he turned to her, one arm on the handle of her bedroom door. "Iris will be in the studio and Ada will still be sleeping, you'll have to go past the kitchens and out the back garden door, if Frances sees you she won't tell, but be quiet."

"I know." He said with a wink, before leaving her room. Victoria seemed to have forgotten he knew his way around her house well from their years of friendship, sneaking in and out to watch the sunset or sunrise. 

Victoria let herself collapse back into her mattress, she touched her forehead delicately and looked at her fingers as though she could see the kiss transferred from her forehead onto them. With a smile, she clutched her blanket and drifted off into sleep again with the intention to make up the hours she had lost to the terrors in the night in those last few weeks.

~           ~           ~  

A few more quiet and dreamy hours of sleep were abruptly interrupted by movement on her bed. She opened her eyes to see Ada jumping up and down beside her, teddy bear in hand. 

"You are healed, sister! The melancholy has passed!" She shouted the words in-between jumps. Victoria caught her mid jump and swooped her into a colossal hug, tickling Ada as she nestled her nose into the crook of her neck. "Ah!" She exclaimed while giggling uncontrollably, wriggling on her back and flailing her limbs about. 

Thundering steps sounded closer and closer to the room. "Ada be quiet your sister must still be sleeping!" The steps continued. "Ada stop now or you'll wake her!" Iris stopped dead in her tracks upon entering. 

"My dear Iris, are you wanting tickled too?" Victoria joked as she ceased tickling her littlest sister. 

Iris didn't reply. She simply rushed to the bed and engulfed them both in a hug. 

"This deserves celebrating." She whispered finally, letting them free. "Let us promenade and gossip!" 

Once the girls had readied themselves appropriately, in their summer dresses with parasols resting on their shoulders, they stepped away from their carriage and out onto the green where some familiar faces of the Ton were enjoying the sun. For the first time this month, Victoria felt energised for the day, ready to face whatever challenge came her way. 

"God, that dress is awful." Iris whispered into Victoria's ear. She looked over at Philipa Featherington, who seemed to have dressed with the intention of out-shining the sun in her bright orange and yellow dress. Victoria stifled a laugh. 

"Perhaps she likes it that way." Victoria replied, she tried her best not to sound sarcastic but her attempt was feeble. The girls laughed and gossiped and walked and took in the suns rays all up until tea time, where they returned home and enjoyed food with their father. 

"Your cheeks are rosy, my dear Victoria." Lord Reynold jested to his daughter. 

"I must say, I have had a wonderful day, and for the first time, a wonderful sleep to accompany it." Victoria said, cutting the parsnip on her plate. 

"I am ever so glad." He replied with a smile. 

Tea-time ended and the Knights each retired to their own rooms for rest, Victoria shut her bedroom door behind her and went across her room to close her window as well. But a glimmer of light in the garden woods caught her eye.

A giggle escaped her and again, she was off into the garden in search of her dear Benedict.