A few moments later, the door to the room opened and multiple footsteps entered the room. The door to the closet was forced open.
Penelope let out a sigh of relief. It was Colin and he wasn't alone. His brothers were with him.
"Oh thank god." Colin pulled Penelope into a quick hug.
Lady Cowper let out a delicate cough. Colin ignored it and kept Penelope in his arms. Lady Cowper let out a more significant cough as she and Cressida left the closet.
Colin released her.
"What's going on?" Cressida asked Anthony.
"It's chaos out there. Most of the attendees from the ball escaped to the royal estate. They've barricaded it. Once we realized that Colin wasn't anywhere inside, we had to fight our way out to try to find Colin. The rest of the family is safe inside." Anthony said.
Penelope fought not to cry. "And my family?" She asked. But the lack of mention didn't inspire a lot of confidence.
"I'm sorry, Penelope. We haven't seen them. But that doesn't mean that they didn't make it out." Benedict said.
"Did you learn anything about the creatures?" Gregory asked Colin.
"Penelope?" Colin turned to her.
"They can't see. But they have enhanced hearing. And …" Penelope paused. Not to be dramatic, but she had no idea how to voice her suspicions based on what she saw just before leaving the ball.
"What!" Anthony demanded.
"Hey, don't yell at her," Colin said. He shifted to stand between Anthony and Penelope.
"They're us," Penelope said quietly.
"What does that even mean?" Benedict asked. No one said anything.
Penelope gathered her courage. "These aren't new creatures. They were once people. Just before we left the room, I saw Lord Fife rise. He had been fed upon by the first creatures to enter the room. By the time we escaped, he was one of them. They must be able to turn people into more of them." Penelope said solemnly to the silent room.
"What can we even do?" Cressida said. She was thankful to still be with her mama, and they didn't have any other family. But, this was a crisis of epic proportions.
"We'll have to return to the safety of the royal estate," Anthony said decisively.
Penelope turned to Colin. "Did you get a gun to help keep us safe? I'm not sure that they'll do much against them, but I'd feel better if you had one on you as we embark on this trip."
"I have one for myself." Colin turned to his brothers. "You should each grab one before we leave."
As they left the room, Colin slipped his hand into Penelope's. He pulled her to the back of the group and squeezed her hand.
"I'll keep you safe, Pen. While I hope your family is safe and has made it, you're a part of the Bridgertons. If I have to marry you myself, you're with us. No matter what." He said quietly.
Penelope's emotions were running crazy. She didn't really have the ability to manage all the surprises of the night. "Colin, you should marry someone you love. You shouldn't be making promises in times of duress."
They had made it to the room with the guns and Anthony was arming himself and ensuring his other brothers had enough guns. Cressida was trying to insist that she and her mother should have weapons as well to provide backups in case the brothers ran out.
As the argument started, Colin and Penelope were able to keep holding hands and talking without drawing attention to themselves.
"How can you not know? Pen, of course, I love you. If you hadn't made it …" Colin broke off with a short shudder. "I'm not letting you out of my sight until I'm sure you're safe. Even then, I'm not sure that I want you far from me."
Penelope gasped. Was this a dream come true inside of a nightmare? So many impossible things have already happened tonight. "Colin, I've loved you for years. If you're not serious," Penelope cut off and tried to keep the devastation from the thought that this wasn't real from her face.
Colin's face transformed into a large grin. "I'll prove that I want to marry you. Any objections?"
Penelope shook her head. Her heart was singing and her eyes were shining up at him with hope.
"Anthony!" Colin called out, breaking up the argument, that the Cowpers seemed to be winning. Lady Cowper had thrown in her support and Anthony was starting to wane.
Anthony was annoyed at his lack of success and turned his focus from the Cowpers to Colin and Penelope. "What?" He bit out.
"Penelope has accepted my suit of marriage! We're engaged." Colin said happily.
"Is now really the time," Benedict muttered.
"Finally," Gregory said and slapped Colin across the back.
Anthony ran his hand across his face. "Wonderful. Let's get moving to return to the safety of the royal estate now. Lady Cowper and Miss Cressida, you may carry the extra guns. But you both must treat them with the utmost care. They have live rounds in them."
With that, the large group left the Bridgerton home and began the trek to the royale estate. They all had hope. But two of them had extreme joy in their hearts.
The End.
A/N - This is part of the Polinween event. I'm trying to participate with at least half the prompts. While I'm starting strong at the beginning of the month, towards the end, I'll have fewer prompts built out.
Okay, I built a world. I put Colin and Penelope together. But now I don't want to fix the mess of a world that I built. Oops. You broke it, you wrote it? Nope. You break it, you write part of it and then you run away and hide, hoping you don't get annoyed readers. That works, right? LOL. Thanks for reading!