[ 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐂𝐀𝐍 𝐃𝐎 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐃𝐎 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐈𝐓 . . . 𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐃𝐎𝐌 𝐎𝐑 𝐋𝐎𝐍𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒?
Goodness, LORD ATTICUS ‘KIT’ THORNE, VISCOUNT DARTFORD has arrived in London. HE is 31, of the CANTERBURY THORNES. Though they are NEW to the Season, we can only describe them as CURIOUS and CHARISMATIC, dear reader. Accompanied by HIS SISTER, they have settled in and are accepting social calls. But be warned: they are known for their PRIDE.
There is an enigma trapped in the Viscount’s bones. He is both introverted and extroverted, quiet and charming, talented and lazy, arrogant and self-doubting. Kit is prone to indulgence, and bouts of manic energy that can only be quelled by too many drinks. He will attend the party, charm its guests, and be the first to leave without a single goodbye. To his credit, the Viscount is brilliant and well-read in more areas than considered polite, which doesn’t do much to make up for his arrogance and at times haughty attitude. But he is also kind, and generous, though he is loathed to admit it. He is loyal to few, but the loyalty that he does possess knows no end. When he loves, he loves deeply, and has experienced more than his fair share of heartache as a result, which is why he often chooses to opt-out of such nonsense.
The late Viscountess of Canterbury would roll over in her grave if she were to see the state of her family. Her son and daughter, essentially ousted from their family home, forced to forge their own paths despite the family, the wealth, and the privilege they were born into. Despite what is inarguably their inherit right. It’s an odd thing, being born into a family where one has to earn their place. Atticus’ name is Thorne only by law and the grace of his mother, were it left up to his father that is something he would have been forced to earn as well, and likely would have failed at doing so. Not for lack of trying, or general skill, but for the insurmountable bars set by the Viscount for his eldest.
When Kit was a teenager he fell in love with a maid before he even knew what love was. She was his age and they found solitude together in the loneliness that they both felt on Canterbury grounds, cold and damp without the warmth of his mother. It was in the stables that Kit first made love, worn wool blankets scratching against their skin, pieces of hay poking through. It was in the back of the library, loose books rattling against wood, where he told her he loved her. It was in the garden where they were caught, and it was only 24 hours later that Kit’s heart was broken for the first time when she was sent away, one of the many callouses now thickening his skin. It wasn’t the first time Lord Thorne threatened to strip his son of his titles, and of his name and dignity too.
It wasn’t long after his mother died that Lord Thorne remarried, and the new Viscountess fell pregnant. Lady Thorne was above Kit’s father in station so to the public eye, it made all the sense in the world when Kit’s future was passed onto the Viscount’s newborn son. But Atticus knew the truth, knew it so well that he could feel the weight of it on his chest. He’d made one mistake too many, disappointed his father for the last time at some point, likely well before he even knew it.
Shortly after, Kit decided to make his own name, something entirely his own that could never be stolen. He served the King for most of his 20’s, acting as a spy for His Majesty in courts all around the world, the most notable being India and the last being France. Kit doesn’t talk about what he saw while he served, let alone what he did. Whatever it was, it was worthy of returning home with a new title. Viscount of Dartford, a gift bestowed unto him by the King yet entirely his own.
Now he is home with a name and a title that belongs to no one but him, and yet there is still this gnawing, unmistakable emptiness inside of him, a hollowed-out cavern in his chest. Part of this can be easily attributed to guilt; establishing regular correspondence with Emmeline was near impossible due to his line of work, and as such, Kit hasn’t been able to speak or communicate with her on a regular basis in years. If their stepmother weren’t such a wretched woman, he might not feel as if he’d well and truly abandoned his sister, but with the state of the Thorne family the way that it is, Kit can’t help but feel like in seeking his own way, he left Emmeline to fend off the wolves by herself.
The other part of that roiling emptiness inside of him is less easily defined, but is something Kit has carried within his chest since childhood, as much a part of him as the color of his eyes or the curl of his hair and nothing, no title, no land, will ever fill the gaps.
