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wafflesandkruge · 1 year

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lover, please stay (kathony)

Daphne gestures exasperatedly at him. “You taught me yourself, brother. I am not mistaken. Love is when your eyes meet and your heart begins to beat faster–”

“My heart,” Anthony snarls, “beats faster because she is aggravating!”

aka the very self-indulgent and niche bridgerton grishaverse au

a/n: HAPPY VALENTINES DAY @rietveldbrothers MY BELOVED MY PARTNER IN CRIME MY KATHONY ENABLER. i hope you like this incredibly niche au that probably only the two of us will enjoy lmao. anyway all you need to know is that anthony is a heartrender, kate is an inferni, and daphne is a heartrender.

ao3

The Bridgerton manor is quiet to all but Anthony this time of night. Exhaustion weighs heavy on his bones as he treads silently through the darkened halls. Call it superstition, or perhaps paranoia, but he’s never gone to bed without completing his nightly ritual.

Benedict’s room is first at the end of the hall. Anthony pauses for a second and slows his breathing. Beyond the brightly painted door, he can sense Benedict’s heartbeat. It’s erratic from what was probably another late cup of coffee, but strong. Beside him, Eloise’s pulse thrummed at a slightly slower rate. So the two were up late, again. Anthony had once caught them still up at dawn synthesizing a new compound for Benedict’s paintings, dark smudges beneath their eyes and matching grins splitting their faces before they registered Anthony’s presence. Anthony smiles at the memory. They are lucky he isn’t in the mood to spoil their fun today.

Colin’s room is empty as he is still on his Grand Tour, so Anthony keeps moving. Daphne’s room is next. His favorite sister is quietly asleep, her heartbeat slow and steady. Something in his blood calls to her, her powers briefly brushing his own. Even in her sleep, she is a formidable Heartrender, second only to him. Anthony lingers for a second longer. He wouldn’t be able to check in on her like this for much longer, given her impending marriage to Simon.

He pulls himself away with a soft sigh and moves on. Francesca is away as well, but Hyacinth and Gregory are sleeping peacefully in their shared room, tired out by the picnic they’d had by the lake earlier. They’d driven their nanny almost to insanity with their combined energy. Anthony listens for another moment, then continues on to the last bedroom.

Violet Bridgerton sleeps alone, as she has for the last fifteen years. Anthony’s powers weren’t developed enough before his father had died, so her solitary heartbeat is the only one he has ever known. He wonders how it could still be this strong when in the days after Edmund’s death, it was so quiet he thought his powers were broken. He could never do that to someone else, to leave them behind a shell of themself. His hands clench involuntarily.

Violet is strong. She’ll manage. He sends her good dreams, then forces himself to leave.

Edwina’s pretty face breaks into a smile as she is ushered to the front of the room. Her dark hair had been pulled into an artful updo and silk flowers had been haphazardly pinned to the spill of curls. She wore a pale dress covered with sparkling beads that clicked together with every movement. There is a certain girlish charm to her that Anthony supposes is appealing, but he is hardly enraptured like half the men in the room.

At some unknown cue, the lights in the room are extinguished. A hush falls over the shadowed crowd.

Then, there is light.

Spidery sunlight pools in Edwina’s palms and catches on the beads of her dress, scattering light across the room. Her face is alight with joy as she spreads her arms wider and the light grows.

The crowd oohs and aahs at the display of power, but Anthony’s attention is elsewhere. Half-hidden in Edwina’s shadow is another woman, closer to his age than Edwina. She has the same eyes and nose as Edwina, and the light manages to catch her regal profile and render her a study in shadows. But the thing that catches his attention is that even in a room full of people, her heart seems to beat the loudest. He takes a step towards her.

Their eyes meet.

“What are you doing here?” Anthony demands, his traitorous heart leaping at seeing Kate. She’s wearing a smart blue dress today, matching silk gloves covering her arms from the bright sun. Mud-stained riding boots peek out from beneath the hem. Clearly, she intends to spend a day with the horses, which is why Anthony is so bewildered by her presence at the training grounds.

Kate surveys the area with a critical eye, her head tilted at that aggravating angle that made it look like she was looking down at him despite the several inches he had on her. Anthony’s blood boils as she opens her mouth. “I wanted to see what the big fuss was about.”

“It’s dangerous for you here,” Anthony growls. It would only take a second of distraction from any of the Grisha dotting the course, and Kate could be hurt. The thought causes his skin to itch. “If you want to observe, do it from the house.”

“Oh please,” Kate says dismissively. “How can you expect me to be frightened when I saw Mr. Levington there fall off his horse last week because she spooked at a rabbit?”

Anthony looks at where Kate’s gaze is directed, and sure enough, Levington is trying to levitate water out of the lake with little success. The front of his shirt is already soaked, and wet hair is plastered to his forehead. What an imbecile.

When he turns back to Kate, she’s still staring at Levington, a small smirk playing on her lips. Anthony scowls and steps in front of her to block her view. “Leave,” he ordered.

Kate tilts her head to the side. “Do you always expect people to jump at every order you give?”

“Yes.”

The two stare at each other, having reached a clear impasse. Anthony can’t help noticing the way the sun turns her eyes into warm honey, dark lashes blinking slowly as she glowered at him. Her heartbeat thumps steady in his ears, both a reassurance and an annoyance.

“Watch out!” a voice cries from the distance.

Anthony sees it a split second after the warning. A stream of bright fire hurtles toward them from behind Kate, too fast to be avoided. His pulse roars as he grabs her shoulders and shoves her roughly to the ground, his shoulders curved around her body. The air is unbearably hot. He squeezes his eyes shut and waits.

One breath.

Kate’s heartbeat slowing until it was silent.

Two.

Kate’s last breath leaving her body in a final gasp.

“My lord.”

Kate’s body still in his arms–

“Anthony!”

His eyes fly open. Blood rushes in his ears, everything is tinted red. Kate peers up at him from the ground, her brows furrowed in concern. Her cheeks are flushed and her eyes bright.

“Breathe,” she says as if calming a spooked animal. “Breathe.”

“You are unharmed?” he chokes out. His hands fumble at her shoulders, her arms. He cannot breathe. “Kate, are you–”

“I am fine.” Kate grabs his hand and holds it to the bare skin over her heart. Her skin is burning to the touch. “Breathe, my lord. Listen.”

Anthony forces a breath through his lungs and the fog dissipates just enough that he can remember how to use his power. Kate’s heart races, her lungs fill with air. Alive. He clings to the rhythm of her breaths like a lifeline.

“I am unharmed,” Kate repeats, more softly this time. Her other hand presses his free hand to his own heart so he can feel his own heartbeat. Warmth seeps through the thin silk of her glove.

He focuses on the brown of her eyes and slows his breaths. This close, he can count her eyelashes, each one ebony black and perfectly curved. Her heart beats on.

One.

Two.

He leans in closer. She smells like lilies, the sharp scent of char cutting through. Her breath fans across his lips as her head tilts toward him and–

“Are you both alright?”

They spring apart. Anthony scrubs the back of his hand against the lower half of his face as Kate jumps to her feet. Her dress is hopelessly stained and wrinkled, but he can’t see any other damage. She still stares at him, her eyes wide.

“I must– I will go,” Kate says firmly before turning on her heel and striding purposefully back towards the house. Anthony watches her go, still a little dazed.

“Bridgerton!” Lord Lumley panted as he finally reached Anthony’s side. His jacket was charred at the cuffs and soot was smeared across his face. “Are you alright? I lost control of the fire for a second there.”

Anthony stares uncomprehendingly at the ground. The manicured grass is singed and blackened in a perfect circle around where the both of them had been laying on the ground. Had there been a squaller around who saw and aided them?

“Bridgerton?”

“I’m fine,” he responds curtly. “Stay off the training grounds if you’re not experienced enough.”

“Of course, my lord,” he says with a low bow. “My apologies, again.”

Anthony stares at the grass and wonders.

“You’ve been lying to everyone.”

Kate laughs, throwing her head back and letting her curls tumble down her back. Anthony doesn’t think it’s a laughing matter, but he stares all the same.

“I’ve never lied, my lord. People see what they want to, and I’m under no obligation to correct them.” Her heart beats steady and strong, a sure sign she was telling the truth. But Anthony has no idea how he’s been so blind, how he couldn’t have seen what now is so obvious. Kate Sharma is flame and ash, burning everything in her path. Fire burns beneath her skin and in the curve of her smile and he suddenly wants nothing more than to touch her, to feel the heat of her skin against his.

His heart is racing and there’s nothing he can do to slow it despite his powers. He takes a step closer, relishing the warmth radiating from her. His fingers brush the side of her face. “Show me,” he says, his voice almost a whisper.

“You and your orders.” But still, she cups her hands together and a small flame appears, white hot and blinding in the dark. Anthony stares until the shape of it is imprinted into his retinas. It twines around her fingers like a ribbon before she clasps her hands together and it snuffs out. The library is plunged into darkness, but Anthony doesn’t need light to hear the thrumming of her pulse, the air in her lungs. Even with the hundreds of souls currently under the Bridgerton roof, all he can feel is Kate.

He lets his hand cup the side of her jaw, keeps it there as he matches her breathing and stares. Kate traps her hand there with her own, her palms calloused and feverishly hot. Her dark eyes are alight with the small use of her power, splinters of moonlight reflecting in their depths. He feels as if he’s drowning.

“How long has it been since you told someone?” At this point, he knows he’s only grasping at straws to keep his sanity in check. He desperately tries to focus on the rhythm of her heartbeat and not her full lips as she parts them to answer him.

“Years. Longer since someone has asked.”

Daphne gestures exasperatedly at him. “You taught me yourself, brother. I am not mistaken. Love is when your eyes meet and your heart begins to beat faster–”

“My heart,” Anthony snarls, “beats faster because she is aggravating!”

Daphne’s features shift between expressions for a moment before they settle on displeased. “Deny it all you want. But feelings like these have a way of surfacing, sooner or later.”

Anthony poured himself another generous drink. He could feel an oncoming headache. “If I wanted your advice, I would have asked. Don’t you have a wedding to plan?”

Daphne scowls and Anthony’s chest suddenly feels like it is being squeezed by a giant.

“Don’t be childish,” he rebukes, slightly out of breath. Her scowl deepens, but the pressure on his chest disappears. He sucks in a deep breath.

“I only want for you to be happy. And if that is a future with Miss Sharma, then so be it.”

Anthony slams the decanter back onto the table with a little more force than necessary. His heartbeat is deafening.

“There is no future with Miss Sharma, Daphne. Do not bring it up again.”

If he thought she looked angry before, she is downright furious now. Her brows slant downwards and her hands clench into fists. He is just beginning to seriously worry for his life when she finally nods.

“Fine. As you wish, brother.”

“It is my fault,” Anthony mumbles as he pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes. Starbursts of light erupt across his vision. “It is all my fault.”

He can feel his mother’s hand on his arm, but he feels detached from his body as if he might float away at any moment. Everything is too loud. The pounding of rain on the window pane. The creaking of floorboards from the story above. His own heartbeat, two for every one of Violet’s.

“Oh, Anthony,” Violet sighs. Her hand pats his shoulder and he slumps into her side like he is still a child. This far from the Danbury residence, he can no longer hear Kate’s heartbeat, but the slow rhythm of it is ingrained in his mind like the ticking of a clock. He wants to cry, to scream, but all he feels is a dull ache in his chest and a lightness in his head that makes it difficult to focus on anything at all.

“Cure me,” he implores. Violet had healed all his scrapes and bruises as a child, magicked it away with a warm hand and a kiss to his forehead. What is this if not another gaping wound? He puts a hand to his chest. “Cut away the part that hurts.”

“My sweet boy,” Violet says gently. She hugs him to her side. “There is no cure for love.”

Anthony Bridgerton is an early riser, but that is something he is willing to sacrifice for the sake of his wife. He runs a hand through Kate’s curls as she dozes on his chest, her skin warm against his. There’s a furrow in her brow that does not disappear even in sleep and he can’t help pressing a kiss to it.

She shifts and mumbles something unintelligible, but soon settles back against him. Anthony has never felt so content.

Their hearts beat in synchronization, strong and steady and true.

#kathony s3 when #i am so unwell for them #bridgerton #kathony #tgt #the grisha trilogy #grishaverse #my writing #nonestly no idea what to tag this one #eldest sibling trauma?

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roman-catholic-mass-readings · 1 year

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27th February >> Mass Readings (USA)

Monday, First Week of Lent

(optional commemoration of Saint Gregory of Narek, Abbot and Doctor of the Church)

(Liturgical Colour: Violet. Year A(1))

First Reading Leviticus 19:1-2, 11-18 Judge your fellow man justly.

The LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the whole assembly of the children of Israel and tell them: Be holy, for I, the LORD, your God, am holy.

“You shall not steal. You shall not lie or speak falsely to one another. You shall not swear falsely by my name, thus profaning the name of your God. I am the LORD.

“You shall not defraud or rob your neighbor. You shall not withhold overnight the wages of your day laborer. You shall not curse the deaf, or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but you shall fear your God. I am the LORD.

“You shall not act dishonestly in rendering judgment. Show neither partiality to the weak nor deference to the mighty, but judge your fellow men justly. You shall not go about spreading slander among your kin; nor shall you stand by idly when your neighbor’s life is at stake. I am the LORD.

“You shall not bear hatred for your brother in your heart. Though you may have to reprove him, do not incur sin because of him. Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against your fellow countrymen. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.”

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 19:8, 9, 10, 15