•︎ •︎ •︎

━︎━︎ IN WHICH HER LEGS DRAG HER TO A GRAVEYARD

Edith was getting bored, Enola still hadn't returned and Edith was slightly panicked as she paced around the small lodging house they were staying at.

She took a deep breath deciding to go on a walk. So she placed her hat on her head and left the lodging house.

. . .

Edith didn't know exactly where she was heading on her walk but her thoughts kept her away from even realising she had left the busier part of London and gone somewhere else.

Her thoughts suddenly traveled from Enola to flowers and from flowers to . . . him. That was when she forced herself to snap out of her thoughts and look around her surroundings.

She found herself in a graveyard, a shiver travelling up her spine as the cold air breezed past her face. She had always found graveyards uncomfortable to visit or look at. The thought of deceased bodies buried right under her feet made the hairs on her arms stand up.

Edith turned around with the plan of exiting the graveyard and finding her way back to the lodging house but right before she walked past the open gate her eyes caught a familiar name.

Billy Ainsley

. . .

Enola had come back from wherever she had gone to with her knees bleeding and hair messier than ever.

Edith's eyes immediately widened as she saw her friend enter their lodging room with a limp. She jumped up to her feet and helped Enola attend to her injuries, immediately forgetting about the graveyard she had visited today.

They both sat on the floor, next to the crackling fireplace as Enola held her corset on her knees and told Edith what had happened. Then they sat in silence for what felt like hours.

Suddenly Enola's light chuckle filled the silence they had unintentionally created, causing Edith to look up at her friend with a raised eyebrow, deciding not to say anything until she spoke.

"Do you remember when we were children . . . and I cut my knee open trying to save a sheep From a cliff edge?" Enola asked and Edith thought for a moment before nodding her head.

"You almost died, how could I forget" Edith said with a small smile playing on her face as the memories with Enola from her childhood entered her head, a similar feeling to seeing an old friend you haven't spoken to in ages on the street.

"Mother was angry" Enola said with a sigh as she leaned her head on the wall behind her. "She said: It is good to care for the vulnerable, but not if it means risking your life. Sometimes you have to let nature take its course"

Edith didn't say anything, trying to understand where Enola was leading to with her story.

"The truth is . . . we did not ask for Viscount Tewkesbury, Marquess of Basilwether in our lives" Enola said as she looked down at her knees. "We did not want the Viscount Tewkesbury, Marquess of Basilwether in our lives"

At the mention of his name Edith looked down, trying to hide the small smile on her face. She remembered the day they had parted and how he stared after her whilst the carriage pulled him to wherever he was going, she hadn't admitted it — even to herself — but she had felt her stomach lurch when her eyes met his, a feeling of sadness when she saw the carriage turn the street.

"Tell me Edith. . ." Enola said, snapping Edith out of her thoughts and making her look up. "Why do I feel responsibility for the Viscount Tewkesbury, Marquess of Basilwether?" There was a moment of silence before Enola spoke up again "because. . . there are those that want to hurt him. . . and — "

Enola stopped speaking when Edith cut in, finishing her sentence " — he has not the strength to stop them . . . and we do have that strength".

Enola nodded as she looked back down at her knees, tracing a circle next to the injury "she would have me leave him. He is foolish, and proud, and utterly ridiculous"

"He can also cook a meal out of scraps" Edith cut in once again as Enola gave her a questioning look with a raised eyebrow "what?! That was the best meal I had eaten for the last few years!"

"Well, yes, I must admit the meal was quite tasty" Enola said and Edith let a smile take her face. "But, . . . he's on the edge of a cliff".

"Your mother will have to wait, Enola"

First of all, wtf 15k reads?!?!! This is absolutely insane! I want to thank all my readers for reading and voting :) I love you all

Me at y'all:

I have a question for you guys! Do you prefer longer or shorter chapter? Shorter as in — for example — this chapter, and longer as in longer than this chapter.

If I do shorter chapters the book will be longer and I'll update twice or so on the day I write a chapter!

Oop- and my pizza just arrived hehe

Bye guys, I'll update this book later today. love you all 😻