The Danbury Ball was a breathtaking spectacle, the entire ballroom was ethereal. The magnificent chandelier casted a warm glow over the entire room, the estate and subsequent mansion was lined with candles and flowers. The finest silverware, wide array of food, ever flowing alcohol and the top notch entertainment, were truly a sight to behold.

Those in attendance were young debutante's, anxious mama's, indifferent father's and fortune seeking young men. Only the families with the highest positions were given an invitation, even Queen Charlotte was rumoured to attend. This soirée was perhaps one of the most prestigious and significant events of the ton.

The widowed and extremely wealthy Lady Danbury always held the first ball of the season and she was considered to be highly respected, and no one in their right mind would ever dare to reject her invitation.

This very conundrum forced the newly anointed Duke to throw himself in the lion's den by making his first official appearance in the high and polite society of Mayfair. As even he was not foolish or brazen enough to not attend, though he was arrogant enough to be late.

Meanwhile, our Miss Daphne Bridgerton, danced her 3rd dance for the evening with a Lord......Lord Thom......Something. He wasn't significant or interesting enough to be remembered. But the rules of polite society dictated that a lady cannot refuse if a gentleman asks for a dance.

Therefore, she did the next best thing and got lost in her own thoughts, as she often did, while her dance partner twirled her around the ballroom.

She thought about her presentation to the Queen, yesterday. About how she was declared last year's Diamond, the most eligible bachelorette in all of London. Cut to today, how she was just another pretty face and not the belle of the ball. This year's diamond was the exotic beauty - Miss Kate (Kathani) Sharma, of the esteemed Sharma family.

Daphne needed bigger fish, someone who matched her station or higher. As her parent's were the Viscount & Viscountess. She was not a gold digger, but that was the fashion at that time and she had certain ambitions and expectations of her future match and his position in society. (What else was a woman to think about, women were not allowed to work, have autonomy or make any decisions, nor did they have social media and Netflix.)

So once the dance was over, she excused herself to get refreshments and skilfully evaded the advances of one Lord Roger, who was old enough to be her grandfather (Eew). If he couldn't get the chance to ask her, then she wouldn't have to dance with him (loophole).

Daphne all but ran towards the lemonade table absentmindedly, when she bumped into a wall in the middle of room? What? After having her insides rattled with the impact, she looked up and realised that, in fact, it was not a wall but rather a handsome man, a tall man, a man with a chiseled face and a rock hard body (not an exaggeration).

That particular man had a scowl on his face and he was all but glaring down at the little train wreck who bumped into him, causing him to spill his overfilled glass of champagne on himself. Just because of the fact, that she had one of the most beautiful faces he had ever seen, did not lessen his initial anger.

The man was none other Damien himself, he said in an irritated tone, "Look where you are going next time, my god, and here I thought you young women were groomed all your life, to have etiquette and poise."

Daphne unused to hearing such harsh words, bristled at his words and tone. Just because he had one of the most handsome face's she had ever seen, did not mean that he could say whatever he wanted.

She retorted, "I apologise for running into you, but that was not intentional, rather an honest mistake on my part. You do not have to utter such harsh words, a proper gentleman would never say something like that to a young lady."

Damien with his deep and smooth voice said, "I do not need etiquette lessons from the likes of you and I never claimed to be a gentleman."

Before Daphne could respond, her eldest brother Anthony Bridgerton came with a wide smile and said, "Alexander, Damien Alexander, or my apologies it's The Duke now, isn't it?"

Damien laughed (shocking right?, but he was capable of it), "Bridgerton, it'll remain Damien to you, old friend."

(Damien and Anthony are the same age and were the bestest of friends, up until they were 5 years old. They lost contact after Damien's banishment.)

They did a brief man hug, which also included a lot of patting each other's back's somewhat loud and aggressively.

Anthony said, "My word, you are like granite, under what sun did you get so sturdy?"

Damien sarcastically scoffed and said, "If only you knew, mate."

Anthony then realised that his sister, the poor thing was just standing there at the sidelines like a Buffoon watching, waiting and trying to understand, what the hell just happened.

He cleared his throat, pointed to Daphne and said to Damien, "My apologies, this is my sister, Miss Daphne Bridgerton, our family's crown jewel." He then pointed to Damien and said to Daphne, "This is one of my oldest and dearest of friend's, and now he is The Duke of Cambridge - Damien Alexander."

At the very same time both of them said, "Your Sister", "Your friend". They glared at each other and now Anthony stood there dumbfounded, not understanding the animosity between the pair.

Damien thawed first, and said, "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, my Lady."

Daphne still peeved from earlier muttered, "I wish, I could say the same."

Anthony didn't hear it, but Damien did (Vampire hearing, after all) and he couldn't help but smirk.

Daphne then cleared her throat and followed suit, she put on a fake smile and said, "The pleasure is all mine, my lord. Kindly, excuse me - Brother and Your Grace, but I think mother is summoning me, so I shall take your leave."

Without waiting for an answer, she walked off in the other direction.

Anthony couldn't fathom what made his usually demure and mindful sister, behave in such a manner. He said, "I apologise for my sister's behaviour, I will talk to her."

Damien immediately said, "No, no, Bridgerton it is perfectly alright. I enjoy and admire a woman who has a mind of her own and is not a mere sheep, amongst the flock." Looks like Daphne had caught his attention now, he was certainly intrigued.

The over protective elder brother instinct took over and Anthony said, "Well, as long as you admire and enjoy my sister's brazen behaviour from afar, everything's going to be alright."

After all, he had not met or heard about Damien for the past 2 decades, friendship aside, he had to look out for his sister and ascertain, what kind of a man Damien was now. Family was always his first priority.

The duo shared a look and an unspoken agreement was made between them (the bro code and all).

Damien said, "Certainly", he then grabbed two glasses of champagne from the waiter passing by and handed one to Anthony, he clinked their glasses against each other and said, "Cheers to our reunion, I missed your ugly face, Bridgerton."

Anthony laughed and said, "Cheers", and they downed their respective glasses, the previous matter settled.

.........

(To be continued.)
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