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Cressida was up to something, Penelope just knew it.
She watched the other woman like a hawk, fully utilizing her skills for picking up gossip to pick up on the subtlety cruel ways of Cressida Cowper. And what was worse was that apparently she had a new target besides Penelope herself to torment. Poor Eloise seemed to be taking the brunt of her social blows.
"Oh, clumsy me," Cressida tittered pompously as she blatantly spilled her cup of lemonade all over Eloise's hands, ruining her elbow-length gloves. "How very unfortunate, it appears you'll have to take those off. How... indecent," Cressida said with an evil little smirk on her face as she loomed over Eloise.
Oh, how it made Penelope's blood boil. She slowly stepped closer so that she may hear the pair better over the orchestra of the ball. She went unnoticed, and she was tempted to splash her own lemonade right back at Cressida's stupid uncouth face. She could tolerate Cressida looking down at her, but Eloise had actually befriended that ridiculous blonde over the summer! Clearly the friendship had taken a turn for the worse sometime during the season.
What was most infuriating, and the thing that confused Penelope the most, was Eloise not getting hopping mad at her behavior.
"Really, Miss Cowper? This is the third pair this month. You're not being subtle," Eloise grumbled loudly in displeasure as she rolled her now soaked gloves down her arms.
"I have no idea what you are inferring, Miss Bridgerton. Sometimes I just happen to be clumsy," Cressida fanned herself as she eyed her handy work with self satisfaction. What a piece of work she was. Penelope could've snapped the stem on her flute as she watched them.
Eloise forced a smile on her face, even as heat infiltrated her gaze as she regarded the taller woman adorned in pink florals. "Unfortunately for you, now my shameful skin is on full display."
"Yes, very unfortunate indeed. Scandal will be upon you very soon."
"Is that so?" Eloise hiked an eyebrow, looking Cressida up and down. "How soon will it be upon me, do you think?"
"Faster then Whistledown's pen can move, I imagine."
Oh, that blonde menace to society had no idea the scathing things Penelope was going to publish next.
They stared at each other for what seemed like a full minute and Penelope waited for Eloise to smack Cressida across her smug face with her lemonade-tinged gloves, but the moment never came.
Instead, Eloise suddenly turned away, her face red. It was probably from all the anger she was holding inside. "Its fine, I think there were extra gloves in this room over here." And with that, Eloise quickly stepped away down the hallway. Probably to cry in humiliation, Penelope was no stranger to the feeling.
In the meantime, Cressida's smirk turned into an even bigger grin, which she quickly hid behind her fan before anyone could notice. Anyone besides Penelope of course. How dare she look so pleased to torment other women? She was clearly enjoying herself too much.
To Penelope's shock, Cressida soon followed in Eloise's footsteps. Penelope had to turn away and pretend she wasn't staring when Cressida checked her surroundings to make sure no one followed her. The moment she turned away, Penelope scurried after them as fast as her hem line would allow.
Was it not enough to bully Eloise out in the open in front of the ton, she also had to do it in private? Even Cressida left Penelope alone after she retreated in defeat, but it appeared she was becoming more out of control with power!
Penelope pressed her ear to the door she spied silently closing from her spot down the hall. She wanted so desperately to save Eloise from her situation, but she was sure Eloise wouldn't appreciate her pity.
"Does your cruelty know no bounds, Cressida?" She heard Eloise's muffled voice through the wooden door. "Must you torment me at every opportunity? Sleep has been eluding me more and more, and the dishes I consume don't bring me any satisfaction when I think of you." Eloise really did sound on the verge of a breakdown as she spoke, and Penelope wanted to cry on her old friend's behalf.
"This is your fault," Cressida responded with a voice that was strangely unlike the way she usually spoke at functions. Now she sounded a little deeper, a little rougher around the edges. Penelope pressed herself harder to the door.
"This is but a taste of the torment you inflict on me," Cressida continued, making Penelope's brows furrow in confusion. "A natural consequence of your actions."
What was that demented woman going on about? Surely Eloise didn't do anything to Cressida to warrant such treatment!
"A punishment, you mean," Eloise groaned. In pain? "Even though I've been so very good to you?" There was was a yelp and some shuffling. Penelope was crushing the door trying to listen in.
"And you're going to continue being a good girl for me, Miss Bridgerton," Cressida said with the most diabolical chuckle.
"Oh, you're vile. Just evil," Eloise struggled to say with a gasp.
Oh my god, was Cressida hurting Eloise in some way??? Penelope started to panic. It was one thing to spill a drink on her, it was another matter entirely if Cressida was inflicting physical injury on the other girl!
"If I did anymore to you, you wouldn't be able to hide the evidence, or show yourself in society again," Cressida said, and Penelope could just hear the wickedness in her voice. "Unfortunately, I'll have to satisfy myself with just this for now."
"Oh, how I hate you, Cressida Cowper." Eloise made another anguished noise and Penelope had heard enough. She slammed the door open.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ELOISE, YOU DEVIL?" Penelope demanded of Cressida. Who now stared at her in shock, mouth hanging open at her sudden appearance.
For a second, Penelope was confused because Eloise wasn't also standing there with Cressida. Until she spotted her stocking clad legs sticking out from under Cressida's voluminous skirts. And there Eloise was, laying on the ground spread eagle as Cressida stood over her, one foot on either side of Eloise's head. Cressida was hiking up her skirts enough that Penelope could see Eloise's eyes bug out of her head at the sight of her.
Penelope wondered if Cressida had wrestled Eloise to the ground and was standing imposingly over her, but then Eloise unceremoniously spat out a portion of what appeared to be Cressida's undergarments from her spluttering mouth. "P-PENELOPE?!" Eloise exclaimed with a fiercely flushed face, trapped between Cressida Cowper's legs.
Penelope blinked once. Twice. The three of them portraits of frozen mortification.
"Apologies, did not mean to interrupt," Penelope dismissed herself, face blank as she promptly closed the door to the scene taking place within.
"Dearest gentle reader,
I am retiring. "