sent from heaven

" so you lied. " she repositions her body as amelia lies down. she props herself up with her elbow, head leaning on her knuckles. " is it because of what was written? do you still have feelings for ... " what was his name again? " ... " the pause is long. " herbert. " the names in britain are hard to remember. " who have you been spending time with for your spirits to be so low? surely, not herbert. " she narrows her eyes, why is amelia trying to be hard to read? mali would not allow her to change the subject by asking the same question in return. " is your brother already trying to make you compete in the marriage mart? "

" i do not care whether you are a hypocrite or not. if those details mattered so much to me, i would not be here. " he hardly has to say anything to strike a chord. he knows the subtle attacks to his character are her way of resisting because in her mind she will always deserve better than rafael castelo. and since she would rather be agitated in his presence than not, he would not bite back his words. " and i shall remind you once again, sevda. i am not lady whistledown. and i am not judging you for favouring benedict. " after all, he had predicted this would happen. she would not be the first person among the ton to prefer someone of higher status and she would not be the last. " if it provides you comfort to use whistledown as a tool to use against me, i will accept it. however, i would rather if your opinion of me was not influenced by a gossip column. "

"me?"   he   grins,   unable   to   avoid   mirroring   the   brightness   of   wenyi's   signature   smile.   "how   can   i   be   of   service?"

" i have a favour! and you are free to decline, of course. there is absolutely no pressure to accept! " she prefaces to ensure he knows it is not an obligation. " what i am about to ask is rather unusual... — would you, by chance, promenade with feyza for one afternoon? this is not a setup and i would never normally ask this of someone, but i worry for her prospects for this season after whistledown and it has only just begun! and i think! i think seeing her with someone else, publicly, other than lord alderidge would highly benefit her! " she winces slightly, realizing she has been ranting. " i will do anything you ask, i promise! you know better than most that i do not go back on my word. "

" yes... " is all she manages to say while her hand raises, palm facing the sky to see if she could feel any droplets of rain. of course he would think her aloof behaviour solely lies with what whistledown had to say about benedict. her smile remains intact, withdrawing her hand, and finally facing him. " it is not so much xinyi i am worried about. " if benedict's heart really belongs to one of the other ladies, it would be okay. xinyi could find a match with someone else. this is her first season. " it is feyza who worries me. It would be fine if it were simply a rumour, but feyza has confirmed to me, you two were, in fact, alone and unchaperoned. she is a dear friend to me and i cannot think why either of you — especially you, lord alderidge, would think it is okay to act so irresponsibly. "

" clearly not secretive enough if i was still somehow sniffed out. " it made him wonder... does the writer know the identity of the girl he was with and opted to leave her name out to save her from a ruined reputation? " amé, you haven't tried! " he laughs at her lack of determination. though, he could not blame her since he would do the same in her position. " really? — " his laughter echos louder as she continues. it amuses him to know how vocally enamoured sevda is of benedict. " does she have amnesia? i find it hard to believe she selectively chose not to remember your history with benedict. you are safi's close friend. " he wonders if safiye knows and how she would react. learning more about sevda and her behaviours only confirms how superficial she really is. " i would have never thought she would be the type to boast about such things. "

“    i  think  you  need  to  take  a  long,  hard  look  in  the  mirror  before  deciding  to  cast  any  stones  at  simon,  ”  great  affection,  no  matter  how  closely  held  to  her  chest  for  the  girl,  is  promptly  pushed  aside  in  favor  of  the  famished  pug,  forcing  helena  to  bristle  at  the  remark.  she  bites  and  laughs  in  the  same  stifled  breath,  having  nothing  appropriate  to  say.  on instinct she lowers her eyes , her tender lips pursed and voice brought to well-nigh a whisper . “ please,  malisorn,  must  i  remind  you  that  my  lips  have  kissed  far  worse  things? dearest , a  dog  ought  to  be  the  least  of  your  concern. ”

" who is simon? " were they not talking about her dog? is simon her husband — no, it must be that whore of a prince. " i doubt it is worse than a dog that eats their own shit. but unless if the men you kiss do not wipe and shit in bed — then i suppose your dog is better. " she looks to her friend, narrowing her eyes. speaking of men... " why are you back, helena. "

" why are you in my room ? "

" no, why are you in my room? "

" an interesting recollection of events... " he folds the latest edition of whistledown and hands it to her. " have you read this ? " ( @heavensecnt )

" which part? " why is he speaking as if he's familiar with her. " who are you? "

she snatches the sheet from mali's grasp before she's able to finish reading. " this– " her brows furrow as she scans the words, eyes widening as they read the last sentence of his segment. " none of this is true. none of this is true ! he offered me a singular flower to adorn my bouquet which, i'll have you know, i declined ! and this... this lord brentwood, " she waves the paper in mali's direction, " he must be lying. "

" why is it so hard to believe? alphonse looks like someone who is capable of committing murder. " her statement is rather bold, considering mali does not have a clue about what alphonse stirling looks like.

" how persuasive you are... to think you would put all this effort with no guarantee of success ! " she mutters, but the amusement in her eyes betrays her. she isn't naive enough to believe the timing of the pastries was anything more than sheer dumb luck, but she'll bite. " hm.. " her hand hovers over the vast assortment, torturously slow, before her eyes are drawn to the glint of the glazed apricot petals. " you may consider this a preliminary assessment. " she takes a small bite, careful for the pastry to not crumble under her fingers. then finishes the tartlet in another. " not quite an entry, but perhaps a consideration. "

he pours her a cup of tea as she's preoccupied with the desserts. " i think i deserve a position in the top five, at least. " he takes a bit of cake onto his fork, inspecting it with slight disgust. " on second thought, i will gladly accept a mere consideration. " he laughs while taking a bite. " amé and i have been trying to recruit a cook from brasil. i fear we may not be able to survive for long if we do not make the arrangements soon. " he pours his own cup of tea, adding in sugar and milk, stirring it carefully. " how often do you have turkish cuisine? i can imagine it would be hard to find around here unless if your family is smarter than ours and already have someone employed. "

" will you stop being ambiguous ! did she write of him ? "

" how the fuck have you not seen this — " she takes out the whistledown issue tucked away in the shelf. " mister alphonse stirling made a rather conspicuous display of his attention, presenting lady safiye durmaz with an elegant bouquet that seemed to demand admiration. "

"  lady  cavendish  ,  "  benedict  briefly  bowed  his  head  to  greet  the  other  .  "  my  day  is  far  better  now  that  i  have  run  into  you  ,  "  he  said  ,  his  tone  polite  and  composed  .  youngest  alderidge  stepped  to  the  side  to  avoid  blocking  the  sidewalk,  yet  still  maintained  a  respectful  distance  ,  his  posture  easy  but  attentive  as  he  addressed  her  properly  .  "  are  you  off  somewhere  ,  my  lady  ?  i  was  just  heading  to  st.  james  park  .  might  I  have  the  pleasure  of  your  company,  if  you  are  not  otherwise  engaged  ?  ”

" i am flattered. " his politeness does not come as a surprise. he is very well mannered and appears more put together than his older brother. it makes her wonder why bernard had wanted to scheme with her to begin with, considering it does not appear that the young lord required any assistance at all. " i was heading home, nothing in particular! " she is hesitant to accept his invitation. however, he has done nothing wrong and she should not treat benedict so cruelly because of bernard's actions. " i would love to! the pleasure is all mine, really. "

" has she written about alphonse ? "

" oh my god, safiye. are you being dense on purpose? "

" what are you talking about ? "

" whistledown? "

" yes ! " she picks at a few stems between two fingers, fanning out the arrangement to build fullness. " the sea lavender was a clever choice – though i must give credit to lady mümine. "

" not the one alphonse stirling gave you? " good thing she asked before reaching to throw it out the window.