AWYNTER ; Independent Roleplay Blog For Annelise Shawcross Also Known As Anne Wynter From Julia Quinn's

AWYNTER ; independent roleplay blog for annelise shawcross also known as anne wynter from julia quinn's a night like this. set in the bridgerton universe. book-based with inspiration from the show. medium-to-slow activity & semi-selective. penned by elfie.

𝐏𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐏𝐀 𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐆𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐐𝐔𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐒 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐈𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝐎𝐍𝐄.

All sentences are taken from different books from Phillipa Gregory, specially her series about the historical fiction setting of the war of roses and the tudors era. Change names, locations, pronouns and nouns as you see fit for your own liking. Some of these have slight foul language or involve insuation of sexual situations. Please beware. This is part one.

You can smile when your heart is breaking because you're a woman.

If it means something, take it to heart. If it means nothing, it's nothing. Let it go.

I can't sleep, I can't eat, I can't do anything but think about him.

At night I dream of him, all day I wait to see him, and when I do see him my heart turns over and I think I will faint with desire.

A man will always promise to do more than he can do to a woman he cannot understand.

I would know you anywhere for my true love. 

Whoever I was and whoever you were, I would know you at once for my true love.

When a woman thinks her husband is a fool, her marriage is over. 

The world hasn't changed that much; men still rule.

If you go on flirting with the king with those sickly little smiles, one of us Boleyns is going to scratch your eyes out

What a pair we shall be! What man can resist us?

You have to choose the best, every day, without compromise...guided by your own virtue and highest ambition.

I never thought it would end like this. I never thought he would leave me without saying goodbye.

But I don't forget and I don't forgive.

A woman has to change her nature if she is to be a wife.

To be a good wife is to be a woman with a will of iron that you yourself have forged into a bridle to curb your own abilities. 

But I am above these judgments, I am a Queen.

Anyone can attract a man. The trick is to keep him.

I was born to be your rival.

Know your rights.

When they see us dance. When they see how you look at me. When they see how I smile at you.

I have learned the power of surviving.

I was a woman who was capable of passion and who had a great need and a great desire for love.

Good god what men can do to their brains when their cocks are hard.

They are a house which has to have blood, and they will shed their own if they have no other enemy.

I want to take you for pleasure, and hold you in my arms for desire.

 I want you to know that it is your kiss that I want, not another heir to the throne.

You can know that I love you, quite for yourself, when I come to your bed, and not as the York’s broodmare.

You think to bed me for love and not for children? Isn’t that sin?

I shall make sure that it feels richly sinful.

Some women attract desire. Others do not.

Every woman has to have something which singles her out, which catches the eyes, which makes her the center of attention.

If it has to be done at all, it must be done with grace.

She  was speaking out for the women of the country, for the good wives who should not be put aside just because their husbands had taken a fancy to another.

Because all books are forbidden when a country turns to terror.

You can smile when your heart is breaking because you are a woman, and a courtier.

War does not answer war, war does not finish war. The only ending is peace.

To save my son, I would plot with the devil himself.

Yes, but either way, shamed or not, I shall be Queen of England, and this is the last time you will sit in my presence.

I am not a yard of ribbon. I am not a leg of ham. I am not for sale to anyone.

We have to be more royal than royalty itself or nobody will believe us.

I betrayed as a daughter will betray her mother and yet, never stop loving her.

I am an object of beauty. He has never loved me as a woman.

When a man wants a mystery, it is generally better to leave him mystified. Nobody loves a clever woman.

I wanted the heat and the sweat and the passion of a man that I could love and trust. 

And I wanted to give myself to him: not for advantage, but for desire.

I am a fool to own it, but I am in a fever for his touch.

It is luck to love someone who is free to love you in return.

Just decide that you are not going to be a fearful woman and when you come to something that makes you apprehensive, you face it and walk towards it

This was my destiny: to put my son on the throne of England.

This is a woman whose belly is filled with pride.

 She has been eating nothing but her own ambition for nearly thirty years.

Plainly, she is quite besotted by him,... a girl, a young girl, and she is falling in love for the first time in her life.

And – I think you know, don’t you? – that I love you, Anne.

And you are the sort of mistress a man doesn't bother to marry. Sons or no sons.

You don't need to struggle, your baby is coming.

You give birth, you don't force birth or besiege it. It's not a battle, it's an act of love. You give birth to your child and you can do it gently.

But young hearts mend easily.

Either you have me or not at all. Either you love me or not at all. Either I am all yours or I am nobody’s. I will have no half-measures with you.

Men die in battle; women die in childbirth.

 shall put a curse on their house that they will have no first born son to inherit. 

Have you ever wondered, Anne, in your untiring dance of seduction, whether you might not be dancing to Henry's tune instead of your own?

I am a Queen. It is natural that men are going to gather round me, hoping for a smile.

My honour and my pride are in my heart, and not in what the world says.

He is fragile, like a prince of ice, of glass.

But I warn you that a woman who seeks great power and wealth has to pay a great price.

Every woman is a mad ugly bad old witch somewhere in her heart.

My own mother told my lady governess that if the baby and I were in danger then they should save the baby.

She has a smile that grows slowly and then shines, like an angel’s smile.

Jane would be the next queen and her children, when she had them, would be the next princes or princesses.

I am mad for you.

You're not cursed daughter, you are the finest and rarest of all my children, the most beautiful, the most beloved.

One’s lover is one’s partner in observing and understanding the world.

Marriage is a place where joint narratives are composed. If the lover is a liar then all your joint observations are unreliable. 

If it was not in your interests to betray me then you would have been loyal.

I am marrying the finest man I have ever known.

You can have my glove, my favour.

Nobody gets to be Queen of England by being loveable. You will have to play your cards right.

Thomas More once told me: lion or king, never show fear or you are a dead man.

When I marry you, everything I have becomes yours.

"When you put it that way, I suppose it doesn't sound quite as ridiculous." Anne averts her gaze, letting his words sink in. They both had dreams of being somewhere else, someone else, and yet their lives had seemingly brought them in two different directions. Anne didn't know if he'd necessarily gotten his dream, but, in a twisted way, she'd gotten hers. The girl she used to be no longer existed, she was no longer bound by duty or relations. She was free to go wherever the winds dared to take her, and yet she still found herself wading in shallow waters.

"How did you quell the temptation, then? Did you simply act on them, or did you let them fester?" She raises her eyes to look at him, searching his expression for any answer, anything to offer her a sense of clarity. "Having such dreams is unreasonable for someone like me, so how am I supposed to make the desire to leave it all behind more bearable?"

"ah yes, yet another pointless restriction, if you ask me." of course, she hadn't and his opinion held no worth, but he wanted to make in known nonetheless. such a restriction always felt so unfair. perhaps it was because he'd seen both his father and his mother as ruler of his kingdom— and both had been well respected and beloved in the role. 

"if that is ridiculous, then i have been ridiculous all my life." a small but almost amused smile tugs at his lips as he gives a light shrug of his shoulders. "i have been dreaming of the very same since i was a boy. i wanted nothing more than to load up my ship and sail off into the sunset, leave behind the life i had known for a new one. i wanted more— to see more, learn more, discover more than what the confines of the small island i called home could offer." his head then tips curiously towards her. "now, why would you think that's so ridiculous?" 

Before she can ask what sort of rumors might’ve been spread about such an upright gentleman, his answer eases her concerns. She hadn't expected him to be a brute or a rake, though it wouldn't have surprised her entirely if he were the latter. But a military man made more sense. A man of his stature and age would serve a country well, and, valiantly, if his behavior so far had any bearing.

“The Continental Army?” She thinks for a moment, trying to wrack her brain for any sort of fact she might’ve known about the topic. Truthfully, her education rarely included knowledge of Americans, unless it touched upon their departure from the homeland. And with only that to reference, she felt quite ignorant. “Interesting.”

Anne smirks. Most men assumed she was a governess for a plethora of reasons, some of them being closer to the truth than she cared to admit. Surely, a woman of her upbringing wouldn’t sink to teaching unless she’d exhausted all other options. Or unless she’d exhausted the limits of her virtue. Both of which were true, to an extent. She had almost been engaged and in what she thought was love. But after the incident with George, she knew she would never have a chance in society again, not as long as her name remained soiled.

“Oh, I’m sure most men would rather like to engage with the fairer sex, just perhaps not in the intellectual sense.” Anne knew she was pretty, especially in a trade that traditionally consisted of older, forgotten women, so the curiosity her presence raised was justified, in a way. She could hardly blame them. More often than not, would-be employers wouldn't even consider her for the job due to her looks. She'd be too much of a distraction, they'd say, but whether they meant for the children or for the men of the house, she could never be sure.

“My girls are not entirely fond of maths or geography, so using arts and philosophy is usually a good way to bribe them into doing their work, if nothing else. Especially Harriet. She adores the arts, writing in particular. Would you believe that she’s written over seven plays? And she's just barely fifteen. Now, I know it may not sound terribly impressive on the surface, but when you consider that at least one of them is a twelve-act play, it becomes a bit more admirable.”

She hums in pride. When it came to music, the Smythe-Smith family lacked what most people would call talent, but their affinity with art was not lost entirely. Elizabeth enjoyed reading about the world, and Frances found delight in acting, especially if the role included being anything akin to a unicorn.

All in all, Lady Pleinsworth was an extraordinary woman, considering the circumstances she’d been faced with. As a mother to four daughters, she always held nothing but respect and love for her family while Anne's own mother never seemed interested in that sort of thing. To Lady Pleinsworth, the girls' education was just as important as their health and security, and it was perhaps one of the things Anne loved most about her employer. Though Charlotte Pleinsworth could be rather blunt at times, her heart was never cold.

“I’m sure the girls would jump at the opportunity, but I fear not much studying would occur if we were to enact such a thing without a plan. We’d have to confer on a strong technique, lest we allow ourselves to be overruled." It was already a struggle to keep her three students present and focused, but she'd learned the perfect ways to keep each girl interested. And as long as Ben could maintain Gregory's attention, it might not be an impossible feat.

“Of course, Lord Bridgerton is surely very protective of the youngest son. You should probably run the idea by your pupil, as well. I wouldn’t want Mister Gregory to be overwhelmed. The girls can be... a lot to handle, if one is not aptly prepared." Anne can imagine the chaos nearly perfectly. Poor Mister Bridgerton sat alone at a writing desk while a wave of giggling girls spilled into the room, incessantly pleading for a scrap of his attention. It would be a mess, unless the two tutors found a way to orchestrate such a cacophony.

"But, do enlighten me, Mr. Tallmadge, what other unorthodox methods do you employ? Besides learning your manners from the youth, that is.”

"Opinions aren't worth much in the end, are they?" Benjamin challenged. "Facts, after all, are what truly matter, so long as we can convince those around us. My entire employment depends upon it."

Mugged?

He laughed then, incredulous. "Is that a common occurrence here in the ton?" Benjamin asked, raising a brow. "Perhaps they don't make such attempts because they risk losing a limb. Rumors, I've found, are far more protection than anything else, since I'm known to have served as an officer in the Continental Army. I doubt many ruffians would risk such an encounter." With a soft smile, he added, "Besides: my valuables tend to be books, not coin, so I don't feel overly at risk for a robbery."

To his amusement, Anne seemed genuinely startled by his admission. "I did say Bridgerton," Benjamin affirmed. "You act as though I've just sprouted two additional heads... Is it really so strange to think I'm in league with a kind, prosperous family?"

It was -- he knew it was -- but he didn't feel the need to explain how a friend of a friend had secured him the job. He found people's bafflement far more amusing.

However, it was soon Benjamin's turn to be surprised once Anne spoke of her own charges. "A governess?" he asked, his eyes shining with a knowing twinkle. "Three young girls are quite the handful, let alone four. I don't believe I've had the pleasure of meeting Lady Pleinsworth, nor her girls, but their names certainly thread in and out of everyday conversation."

Anne's brow cocked high on her head, and Benjamin instantly realized his mistake when she mocked, "Not even girls? My word, your chivalry truly is unmatched."

He laughed sheepishly. "I'm sorry, it's just...I am accustomed to defending my decision. Most people don't understand the need to teach girls beyond their embroidery, literature, and basic arithmetic, so some believe that introducing the sciences and philosophy is a waste of good education." Now it was Benjamin's turn to roll his eyes. "They are wrong, of course. Why, after all, should we not till fertile minds? I would much rather engage with the fairer sex than talk down to them."

Satisfactory...

Benjamin grinned at that, drawing a hand over his chest with a mock bow. "Well, thank you," he quipped. "To be known as merely 'satisfactory' is every man's goal in life."

He didn't know what Anne meant by "green," per se, and yet he imagined it to be true. He was still gathering his wits about him, and London society was the farthest thing from Setauket. Everyone was so solitary in comparison, and Benjamin rather missed the warmth and easygoing nature of his hometown.

Lifting his head again when Anne spoke, his smile returned once she alluded to a certain infatuation from the Pleinsworth girls towards Gregory.

"My lips are sealed," Benjamin promised. "I'm in the business of cultivating young minds, not breaking hearts. "If you're ever amenable to it, perhaps one day, we can have a joint study session. I'd have to run it by Anthony Bridgerton, of course, but I doubt he would mind. He's accustomed to my unorthodox methods."

Anne used to like storms. She used to find comfort in watching the raindrops carve their ways down the window panes, little racers all determined to score a victory. She wasn't entirely sure when things had changed for her, but it was definitely after her old self had ceased to be. Annelise wasn't afraid of storms, but Anne was. The lonely nights on the Isle were miserable, and the howling winds and roaring thunder didn't help to comfort her uneasy bones. Those days were so far behind her, and yet the feeling of the earth rumbling beneath her feet made dread rise in her chest.

"Hot chocolate sounds lovely." Anne fought to wear a smile. It felt silly for a grown woman to be terrified of weather, especially when she'd consoled children on much less trivial fears. But on her own, with no one's dignity to protect but her own, Anne felt helpless. She appreciated Athena's presence, more than she ever dared to admit aloud. For once, she was the one being consoled in a state of fear.

the rain always had a calming affect on athena. it often lulled her to a deep sleep, comfortable in her warm sleep clothes and sound of pitter patter. one glance at anne, and athena realized that not everyone had the same reaction. she squeezed the other's hand. "of course. i am sure it'll be over soon, and in the meantime," a devious smile appeared on her lips. "we can have hot chocolates."

heading home now so I will work on replies soon 🔥