Thunderbird - B. Bridgerton

4

Benedict is not really proud of it, but his reaction to hearing that Sofia had already lost her virtue was.. well, was to run away. He just walked away without a word and left her there.

Now, a solid hour later, he regrets his decision. He doesn't even know why that news made him so angry - it's not like he cared about these kind of things before. It's just that... that feeling of utter jealousy that he couldn't control.
What am I going to tell the others? He thinks, laying in his bed and staring at the wall. He has already made a fuss about the fact that he was going to propose to Sofia today. Anthony will expect every detail by tomorrow morning and Daph and El will probably not stop asking Sofia until she spills the beans. Most importantly, him leaving her like this has surely hurt her feelings. Benedict decides that he has to go and talk to her first thing in the morning and clarify everything.

Just in that moment, someone knocks at his door. He straightens up, but before Benedict can even tell the visitor to come in, the door opens and Sofia enters his room.
She is only wearing her knight gown and Benedict knows that Anthony would probably kill him, if he saw her like this in his room, but Benedict can't think of anything while looking at her.
Her hair is messy as always, but perfect in his eyes and her cheeks are red, just like he loves it.
„We.. we need to talk", she hesitantly says, while slowly closing the door behind her.
„Yes, we need to", he agrees and unconsciously moves a little to the side of his bed, in order to make some space for her.
She doesn't even hesitate to sit on his bed - with only her thin night gown on her. The short dress crawls up her legs while she sats down, leaving even more skin exposed to Benedict. The second eldest Bridgerton heavily swallows by this sight.
„You have every right to be angry", Sofia starts.
„I am not angry", Benedict fastly interrupts her, but she ignores him.

„I know I should have told you that earlier, but... but it's not that easy to speak out. I was young, I was a fool. I thought that that man loved me as deeply as I did,  but he clearly didn't. He left me, I had nowhere else to go, so"
„So you jumped off that cliff", Benedict concludes, „you never fell in the first place. You tried to kill yourself."

„Being a woman is hard everywhere around the world", she says, looking directly at Benedict's horrified face, „but in Turkey.. in Turkey they don't just hate you or call you names. Brothers, fathers or even sons kill their beloved relatives, because once your virtue is gone, once you're ruined, you're nothing but a shame. A little piece of dirt that has to removed from the family chronicle. So I jumped. Bu somehow I survived."

„And Colin found you."
„And Colin found me", she reassures.
Benedict takes a deep breath. „I suppose my dear brother knows of that?"
She nodds and then, hesitantly adds „both of your brothers know"
„You told Anthony, but not me?", Benedict shouts.
„Shhh! No one shall know that I'm here", Sofia intervenes.
„I didn't mean to tell Anthony, but you know your brother. He would have never allowed me to stay, if you wasn't aware of every detail."

Benedict nods. That sounds a lot like Anthony.
„Soo.. what now?", he finally asks, as he realizes that Sofia stopped talking.
„I came to be yours tonight", she declares in a neutral tone and before Benedict can even realize what she said, Sofia stands up and begins undressing herself.

„What - are - you - doing - ?", Benedict says, starting loud, but slowly proceeding to whisper. Especially now no one - not even Eloise, who is the only other guest sleeping in this floor - shall come in.

„I thought it would be your right", Sofia's voice is still calm, „you were noble enough to ask to marry me in order to do.. this, but I don't have any virtue left that you could take, so here, do whatever you want to. I'm yours."

I swear, if she says ‚I'm yours' one more time, Benedict thinks.

„Do you really think that badly about me?", he asks Sofia, not allowing to finish his thoughts.
Sofia sits back on the bed, using her night gown to cover her front like a blanket. „Are you trying to convince me that you, Benedict Bridgerton, are actually a gentleman?", she jokingly says, but one look at Benedict's face let's the smile on her face vanish. „Wait.. you really... you really haven't...?"