A/N: Woohoo! A double post! Reviews and messager welcome! Mwynhewch! Enjoy!
As always, I only own Iris and her interactions - everything familiar belongs to Shonda (as this follows the Netflix series).
Inside the study, Anthony paced like a caged animal. He breathed deeply before turning to the next eldest brother as he explained the situation.
"I will need you to stand as my second," he pleaded, pulling a mahogany box of pistols onto his desk.
"And what if you get yourself killed?" Benedict demanded, hoping to snap his brother out of this decision. Anthony stopped and turned to face his brother.
"Then the title and estates will pass to you," he declared "and I do have a request or two if this is the case," he added.
"And what if you kill Hastings?" Benedict posed, not liking this one iota.
"Then I shall have to leave the country," Anthony explained, "and you will be head of the family in every way that matters."
Ignoring the sounds of their drunk mother and other brother arriving home, Anthony pursed his lips and turned back to Benedict, "you will marry Iris, Benedict. She needs caring for and the only way to protect her is to marry her. If I ask one thing of you, it would be this," Anthony almost begged.
Benedict sighed and gestured to the door, where Anthony went to fetch Colin to discuss further.
Iris paced her room as the night darkened and the morning lightened. All was quiet downstairs, she had heard everyone come home and then an hour or two later, someone else leaving.
Her curiosity was eating at her and she could not rest. She had undressed and clambered into the ned, before rising shortly after and moving about the room silently. She could not understand, her night had begun so beautifully, her gown from the night before was draped elegantly over the chaise, the ribbon from her hair on her nightstand, but she could not comprehend how a night as beautiful as that, on the cusp of a proposal – no the proposal she had spent years waiting for, could possibly end as tarnished as it was.
The dawn would break with her heart, whichever the outcome and she could not fathom a life without Lord Anthony Bridgerton. Iris whirled around hearing horse hooves clattering on the cobbles outside. Her room faced the rear of the property, so she could enjoy the garden she was so fond of, but the Bridgerton stables were at the rear of the property , and she often heard the horses coming and going.
Heart thudding, she glanced at the carriage clock on the mantel and made her decision.
Grabbing a simple grey dress, she managed to get herself dressed, and pulled on her riding boots, before grabbing her cloak and heading to the stairs. She went to Anthony's room first and knocked
She made it to the foyer of the townhouse and noted darkness in Anthony's study, but a light flickering below the door of Colin's study. Iris approached Colin's door and knocked gently, slipping inside at his soft call to enter.
Colin sighed when he saw her, "please," she begged "do not dissuade me," tears fell down her beautiful face, and Colin turned from her. It was a difficult thing to do, considering how much Iris was considered family by now, but he managed it.
Rejected, Iris left the room to visit Anthony's study, and let herself in. She sat at his desk and found his cravat on the desk. Clutching it tightly, she raised it to her chest and held it to her heart, sadly, mourning the loss of what could have been.
There was a red ribbon on Anthony' desk, that Iris frowned as she reached for it, and the perfume that coated it was strong and spiced. Iris furrowed her brow and then dropped the ribbon as though it were aflame – Sienna's ribbon, She realised, and below it on the desk were a myriad of love letters, each detailing the burden of becoming Viscount that his beloved Sienna understood, and that she cared for him like nobody else would.
Iris felt white hot shame rise within her, like the cloying scent of the Theatre Soprano's perfume. It burned and branded her, her stupidity, her naivete, and her innocence - mocked, all at once and she felt used, and suddenly alone.
She shouldn't be there, in his study, shouldn't have been reading these letters and should not have allowed her feelings for Lord Anthony Bridgerton to affect her propriety.
She needed to speak with him, she realised, and stood, quickly, the dates on the letters had been from a while ago, but she needed to confirm with him.
Standing, she moved back to Colin's study, near colliding with Daphne as she went.
"Iris!" Daphne squeaked, before taking in the woman's clothing, "are you going to stop this madness?"
"With every breath in my body," Iris confirmed, pushing the door open. At the irate expression on Iris's face, Colin stood, and Daphne approached her brother.
"Where have they gone?" she demanded. Colin sighed at his sister, "Daph..." he began, but she stomped her foot angrily. "Tell me where this duep takes place," she implored.
Colin, still dressed, and visibly stressed turned away from the two women, "Why would I do that?" he challenged them, putting his glass on the desk.
Daphne exhaled before storming to the desk, "so that we may prevent it from happening."
Colin shook his head, "Hastings has done you a grave dishonour," he cajoled "surely you wish to see him pay?"
Daphne shook her head, "not with his life," she declared. Iris cleared her throat, drawing the attention of the two siblings.
"Lord Bridgerton has done me one," Iris accused. Colin, mouth agape turned his attention on Iris. Iris ignored him and continued, "before Daphne went inti the garden, Anthony and I were alone, and he kissed me, and again this evening in his study," she explained, "he did mean to ask for my hand, and I do not tell you this for anything similar to this circus of a duel to happen, but we know how stubborn he is, Colin, and we must stop it!" she cried.
Colin shook his head, "they will fire wide and that will be the end of it!" he declared.
Daphne scoffed, "Anthony is too angry to fire wide and Simon is too stubborn to yield!"
Colin explained that nobody had seen Daphne in the garden so she should be glad of that, when Daphne froze and all colour drained from her face, leaving her pale.
"Someone did see. Cressida Cowper," Daphne whispered. She turned back to her brother and regarded him seriously, "Colin, you must tell me where they are."
The trio were soon ready to depart, Iris sat in front of Colin, astride his horse and Daphne, the superior horsewoman urging her stallion faster as the fronds of the dawn fog crept around them.
They rode from the centre of the ton, past the shop fronts and over the bridge to head into the countryside. They could not have left more than an hour past when Anthony and Benedict began their journey and they could only pray they were not too late. Iris watched Daphne ahead of them, her sandy hair streaming our behind her, cloak billowing as she pushed her steed faster.
They were in a vast common, ringfenced by large, beautiful and imposing trees, and if it weren't for the urgency of the ride, Iris might have taken the time to paint the setting, as quaint and striking as it was. Still, nearer the copse of trees near the centre they rode, several figures dotted about confirming their target as they rode.
"Colin, please!" She urged and Colin hastened the horse they rode. Iris barely swallowed a scream as the two gentlemen aimed their pistols, Anthony's aiming true and the Duke aiming into the sky, and Daphne rode straight into the line of fire and her horse threw her.
Iris vaulted gracefully from Colin's horse and flew to Daphne's side, landing beside Anthony, skirts all about her, as Benedict approached.
The Duke fretted beside her demanding she confirm if she was alright, when Daphne stood, "I am perfectly well," she declared, shooting a glare at her eldest brother, "no thanks to you idiots!" she added, whirling to see Benedict looking sheepish.
Iris stood then, turning to return to Colin, when she was engulfed in an embrace from the eldest Bridgerton, "why are you here?" Anthony questioned her. Iris looked up at him, "how could I not be?" she responded, heart beating heavily in her chest, she inhaled to prepare her next question, when the spices of a cloying perfume reached her nose.
Dropping Anthony's lapels as though burned, she backed away from him, bumping into Benedict clumsily, who had placed the pistol box on the ground, and caught Iris about her shoulders to steady her. Iris stared at Anthony as the pieces clicked into place, "you went to see her, that is where you went before this, is it not?" She breathed.
Benedicts fingers tightening around her shoulders answered enough for her before Anthony could.
Anthony stepped forward towards her, but Iris turned from him, clutching to Benedict's jacket desperately, "I should like to go home now, Ben, please," she cried as tears trailed down her cheeks.
Benedict nodded and led her to his horse, gently lifting her into the saddle as he leapt up behind her.
They left silently, not seeing Colin shove Anthony in anger on Iris's behalf, not seeing Daphne reclaim the situation and advise a wedding was indeed needed, immediately and not seeing Anthony's face, so full of regret as the pair rode away forlornly.