Day 2: Lillies

Day 2: Lillies

Kate has a very specific theme to the gifts she gives Anthony. These are five times the Bridgerton siblings noticed said gifts (and the time that started it all).

Kate Sharma x Lucy Granville (because self-realized women are awesome)

"Do you need assistance with your clothes, Miss Sharma?"

Kate shook her head, cheeks warming. She had needed help not so long ago. Her clothes had been slightly outdated but well made; now they were hardly better than rags.

She took the clothes from Lucy but the other woman did not move away. Instead she brushed Kate's curls back from her face. "You have remarkable features. It's why I suggested you model in the first place."

"Th-thank you?"

"I speak only the truth." 

Still she did not move away. "Lady Granville, I have to change…"

"Please, call me Lucy." Kate nodded. "And I may call you Kate?" She nodded again. "Kate… do you know what happens here in the late hours?"

Kate shook her head, eyes wide. 

"We are bohemians, Mr. Granville and I. We take pleasure as we wish– but only as it is offered freely. Do you understand?"

Kate shook her head again.

"I like you, Kate. You are beautiful and different, and I should like to kiss you," Kate inhaled sharply, "but only if you should also wish it. Should you not, we need never speak of this again. Your invitation here is secure regardless of your choices tonight– or, indeed, any night." A sensual smile formed in her lips. "The goal is pleasure for all involved."

"But will I not be… fallen?" Kate hated the timidity in her voice but her virtue was all that remained of her former life.

"Perhaps in the eyes of some but it is not for them to know what we do here. And the act men of God speak of– the one that results in children– requires at least one man be present." Lucy placed a hand on her cheek. "The kiss, dear Kate, would be just for us."

"Okay."

Lucy smiled and it warmed her whole face. She placed Kate's clothes on a nearby chair and then moved close again. Tucking another stubborn strand behind Kate's ear, she leaned close and brought their lips together.

Day 1: Riding before dawn

She couldn't keep him. Kate knew that.

or

Kate and Anthony have morning sex with a side of angst.

Day 3: "You have no idea how much I want you." (Barista AU)

Anthony and Kate keep running into each other. One of them is more unhappy about it than the other.

Day 6: Viscountess

"I was going to ask you to marry me."

Kate stopped breathing. "What?"

"I was going to ask for your hand. I even picked out a ring– it's in my quarters but I can get it if you–"

Kate shook her head. "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why were you going to propose?"

Anthony frowned. "Because it makes sense, I suppose. You need money for Edwina's season, I need a wife. We have good conversation, shared values, undeniable chemistry. And I have every confidence you will be an excellent Viscountess."

"What about love?"

"I never planned on marrying for love and neither did you."

Kate felt her heart shatter into a million pieces. The straightforward manner in which he spoke told her everything she needed to know. While she had been falling in love with him, he had felt none of those feelings.

Day 2: Kate and Edwina (Sisterhood)

Kate sighed quietly as she slipped into the room in the boarding house she shared with her sister, Edwina. It has been a particularly long day spent in her apprenticeship, trying to work out the stitching for the bonnet she was meant to finish this week. It was murder on her hands but the pay was good and they needed the funds if they were going to survive in London. 

London. Kate closed her eyes for a moment. They should have never come here-- should have never had to come here. But Somerset was a small village with no theaters and Edwina…. 

Edwina had real talent. Not even sixteen and she was already appearing in Romeo and Juliet. As a background actress, admittedly, but it was still impressive. Her natural beauty shone on stage and Kate was certain it was only a matter of time before she won a lead role.

Of course that was the problem-- time. Kate and Edwina had lost both their father, who had already been sick for several years, and Mary much more suddenly to a terrible flu one year earlier. Kate was barely eighteen then and it had been a terrible shock. Lord Sheffield, their father's older brother and the only living relation who acknowledged them, was too deep in debt to take them in. 

They visited their uncle for a spell as they sold what little they could for capital and then made their way to London in search of reliable employment. Thankfully, their father's former steward was able to help Kate find an apprenticeship at a family run milliner's shop. It was not easy and she was the first to admit she didn't take to it naturally, but she worked hard and that was enough to keep her employed. For now.