Whoever was the caterer for these events, Gale thought, he would have to get in touch with them. Not that he was hoping to be in this world for long - they had already been talking about how they needed to find a portal back into their own world. But really, why did they? Here, there were no mind parasites, no ticking time bombs in his check, and he hadn’t had to deal with a single attack since they’d gotten here.
But then again, being without his magic felt like being without a part of his soul. He still felt like remnants of the Weave were trapped within him, whirling through his system like the oxygen he breathed. He longed to release it, and to move within it, but every time he’d tried to do any sort of magic in his bedroom in the Bridgerton house, nothing had come to him. Granted, he hadn’t been able to give it his best shot during any of those times - there was something in his heart that told him that it would not be good if someone found out that he could do magic in this world, and it was hard to do anything in the house without one of the Bridgertons hearing him. He had thought it was a ridiculously large manor when he had first arrived, but he hadn’t realized that there were seven Bridgerton children still living in the house. Up until this last marriage market, there’d even been one more of them! If they ended up staying here long enough, he thought, hopefully more of them would be caught up in the marriage market and move out. Either that, or he’d have to find his own apartment in the ton. He wouldn’t have to worry about funds for that - he’d been to the local counting house (or The Bank of England, as it was called here), and he somehow had had an account that had made even him blush - but leaving too quickly would almost certainly be suspicious, he realized. If he wanted to leave, he’d have to start peppering in his desire to find an apartment as soon as possible.
Gale picked up another biscuit and popped it into his mouth. He nearly sighed as the buttery sweetness of it wrapped itself around his tongue. Yes, he was certainly going to have to find the name of Lady Danbury’s caterer, or at the very least, he’d have to attend balls more often. He had been somewhat dreading it - from what the elder Bridgerton brothers had been saying, any mother with daughters was likely to mob any eligible bachelor the moment they set foot at a ball. But perhaps, he thought, they weren’t mobbing him because he wasn’t a Bridgerton. Sure, a few mothers had been over to chat with their younger daughters in tow, but most of them were just here to grab snacks.
He thought the same could be said for the young lady who had just joined him at the table. She was a short woman, and a tad more stout than a lot of the women in attendance, with gorgeous red hair that was not at all complimented by the bright yellow dress she was wearing. Then again, from what she’d seen during the time that she’d been visiting at the Bridgerton house (she and one of the umpteen children, Eloise, were apparently close friends), it didn’t seem like the poor girl owned any clothing that complimented her. “Wonderful ball, isn’t it?” he said, debating whether or not he should grab another biscuit.
The woman startled for a moment before seeming to realize who he was. Granted, he shouldn’t have been surprised by that - from what he’d seen of the party so far, it seemed that there were not many men in attendance that wanted to talk to her. Nor many women, other than Eloise. “Oh, Lord Ledger!” she gasped. “You gave me quite a fright!”
“My sincerest apologies,” he said, giving her a deep bow. “Although I am surprised that you have the ability to be surprised amongst all of this noise.”
“It does get quite busy around here,” she said with a slight smile. A bit of pink was starting to color her cheeks. It would have been quite lovely if she had been wearing something with a cooler tone, he thought. “But I am afraid my mind was elsewhere when you spoke.”
“Totally understandable. It seems that my mind is frequently elsewhere as well,” he said with a grin. “I am terribly sorry, but could you remind me of your name?”
“Penelope.” She didn’t look at him when she spoke, but instead stared straight at the trays of food in front of him.
“Ah, yes, my apologies for having forgotten. The mind sometimes goes when you get to my age.” Penelope giggled, which made Gale grin - he had been hoping to put her at ease after all, even if it made him feel older than he actually was. He was mildly jealous of the others in his party - when they had jumped through the portal, most of them had been transformed to some extent, and they were all considered to be in their late teens or early twenties. He was the only one who had not been transformed in such a way, and as such, he still remained in his late 40s. Not that that mattered as much around here, though - for women, it seemed as though their marriage prospects were over the minute they turned twenty, but for men, it seemed like they were nearly ineligible for marriage until they were at least in their 30s. Or at least that’s what it seemed like for everyone else, he thought - given the lack of mothers around him, maybe he had aged out of the marriage market, too. “Say, do you know who happened to do the catering for this party? I swear I would fight someone for these biscuits.”
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Penelope giggled lightly again. He wasn’t sure if that was something that was common amongst the women of the ton, or if she was just predisposed to giggle frequently. Either way, he had a hard time claiming that he didn’t enjoy it. “As far as I am aware, the cooking was done by Lady Danbury’s kitchen staff, but I have to agree with you. I do quite look forward to the food at her ball.” After a heartbeat, as though realizing what she had said, her face turned a deep shade of rosy. “Not that I frequent the snack table at these events,” she stammered. “Everyone knows that a lady has the appetite of a bird, but one might have one biscuit.”
Gale grinned at her, trying his best to let her know through his eyes that he didn’t think she had made any sort of misstep. “Well, I certainly have had more than one, and I shan’t let anyone know if you do as well. Your secret is safe with me.”
Her eyes fluttered and she opened her mouth as though to say something further, but before she could, he was interrupted by a voice behind him saying “Enjoying the variety of refreshments, Gale?”
Gale turned from Penelope to find Shadowheart walking toward him. Her dress was magnificent, but he was impressed by her ability to glide through the crowd, as the bottom had to be at least three feet wide. “It’s Lord Ledger here, your Highness,” he reminded her, giving her a light bow even though it felt ridiculous. Hadn’t it just been a few days ago that the party had shared a bowl of soup made from extremely questionable ingredients? He could add that to the reason why he wasn’t particularly interested in heading back, he thought. “And of course! You know I love a good meal, after all, and if you haven’t tried these biscuits, you surely must! Isn’t that right?” He turned back to Penelope, but she had turned back toward the crowd, clearly trying to pretend that she wasn’t paying attention to the two of them.
“I’m fairly certain that I’m allowed to call you whatever I please,” Shadowheart joked, grabbing one of the biscuits. She looked at it closely, as though still in the habit of trying to ascertain that it was safe to eat, and then broke in in half and popped one piece in her mouth. “I’m fairly certain the only person who outranks me is the Queen, and maybe the King, if he’s still alive, but I don’t think she would care in the slightest. She’s too busy chatting with Lady Danbury to notice what I’m calling people.”
Gale’s eyes flicked over toward the Queen, who sure enough was sitting next to Lady Danbury. The two of them were seated quite close, whispering conspiratorially. “Yes, they do seem like they’re quite close,” he agreed. “What exactly are they up to?”
“I’m not sure, to be honest,” she said, popping the last bit of biscuit into her mouth. Gale was fairly sure that talking with food in her mouth would be frowned upon here, but, like Shadowheart had said, she outranked just about everyone, so it’s not as though she’d be punished for her behavior. “They seem to be doing an awful lot of whatever it is, though.”
Gale was about to suggest that they must be old friends when another voice cut him off. “They’re probably trying to manipulate the marriage market to make interesting pairs. That’s what they do every year.” He turned to find his niece, Eloise, also at the table. She quickly snagged a biscuit, but otherwise didn’t seem particularly interested in the food. Instead, she appeared to be looking for someone.
“Is that so?” Shadowheart asked, and Eloise turned to her. At first, she didn’t seem to recognize the princess, but then Gale saw her body stiffen just enough to know that she’d realized her mistake. “I would have thought they’d have more interesting things to do, like say, running all of England.”
“You Highness,” Eloise threw out, crouching into a low curtsey. “I am so sorry, I did not realize it was you at the table. I was merely looking for Penelope and caught a bit of your conversation. I mean no ill will toward the Queen…”
She looked as though she was prepared to continue talking into perpetuity, but Shadowheart caught her off with, in Gale’s opinion, a surprisingly soft smile. Much softer than she’d used with anyone at camp. “It’s quite alright, there is no offense taken. In fact, I agree, I believe my mother should be doing more useful things with her time.”
It was only right, Gale thought. Shadowheart could have been disappointed with her, but there was no reason to me - Eloise probably had more of a connection to the Queen than Shadowheart did. He turned from the table, looking for Penelope as well. She had just been here, and in that bright of a color, it would be impossible for her to hide. But somehow, she managed it.
“Listen,” Shadowheart said, cutting Eloise off from yet another apologetic spree. “I’m not upset - if anything, I’m interested in hearing what you have to say. I don’t know most of these people, after all, and your opinions seem to be rather…astute. What say we take a turn about the hall and you can give me a quick explainer for them? I’m sure Gale wouldn’t mind.” She nodded lightly toward Gale in question, and he shook his head. Frankly, as much as he liked Shadowheart, he was also enjoying the ability to meet some of the locals. “Great,” Shadowheart confirmed, reaching her elbow out for Eloise to take. “Walk with me, or I shall consider it an act of high treason.”
Eloise’s face paled, but Gale had to try his hardest to contain his grin.