Getting her parents to agree to letting her out of the house after the delivery of the latest Whistledown sheet had been difficult to say the least, with Kate saying the bare minimum to her father and enduring her mother’s reproachful look the entire time, until finally, finally, they agreed to allow her to visit an old friend under the watchful gaze of her mother.
They had not, of course, expected Henrietta to be shut up inside of her room and taking shelter under no less than five blankets (she’d always had a flair for the dramatic), proclaiming loudly that she was not feeling well, thank you very much, and please go away. Kate, undeterred, kept knocking on the bedroom door without pause or hesitation until Henrietta finally shouted that it was unlocked, and she burst inside, leaving her mother on the stairs without so much as a by your leave.
Locking the door behind her, Kate toed off her shoes and tugged off her gloves, dropping them without care on the dresser as she passed it and lifted one edge of the blankets, peering into the darkness beneath in search of her friend. “Hen? Are you even in there?” Kate hissed, her eyes adjusting to the dim light of the room and the dimmer light within the blanket pile until, finally, she located Henrietta’s large greenish blue eyes, blinking at her balefully.
“Oh, Hen,” Kate sighed, and began to crawl into the bed herself, the blankets weighing down her progress until she was laying down beside Henrietta and all light had been extinguished by the thick layer of linen and wool above them. “How are you breathing in here?” Kate asked after a heartbeat’s worth of silence, tugging down the blankets above them until both their heads were exposed to the semi-fresh air of her friend’s bedroom, taking big gulps of air as she did. Her head flopped down onto one of the pillows and she stared at Henrietta, sighing heavily as she did. “I’m sorry,” she murmured. “I can’t believe she said that.” She didn’t need to explain who she was. / @springslate