ALL THESE PEOPLE THINK
LOVE'S FOR     SHOW, BUT I
WOULD DIE       FOR YOU IN
S        E        C        R        E        T

I'D GIVE YOU MY SUNSHINE, GIVE YOU MY BEST

Much like the ebb and flow of the ocean against a shore, people fell in and out of love (or lust, or like, or whatever you wanted to describe it as because all could fit). Like a wave crashing onto the sandy beaches, carrying the sand back out with water only to replace what was lost when another wave came crashing to the shore. Human beings carry and harbor emotions that surprise even the individual carrying them — they're complex, hard to describe, and yet, the poets seem to have it down pact. Poets seem to understand the complexities of the human psyche, in such a way that describing them to help bring them to others minds is no problem. Not a worry. For them, it was simple. And yet, for most people, they can spend their entire life believe themselves to feel one way to wake up on a random Tuesday afternoon feeling the exact opposite. People can go from loving another to hating their existence in the blink of an eye — people can go from indifference to needing someone in their life without even knowing it happened. Humans were complex, like something inside of them was constantly on the hunt for the one thing that would satisfy its craving. You have people who swear by the statement, YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE UNTIL IT'S GONE. People that weren't able to open their eyes in enough time to realize what their emotions had been telling them all along. People who had to lose the thing they needed to understand that they needed it. But then you have the poets.

The poets who are burdened with the knowledge of what they need being right there in front of them. The poets who never took that thing for granted because, from the start, they knew they needed it. The poets that tried to hold on, grasping their fingers against something that was pulling away. The poets that had to feel their heart break in the same way they had written about time and time again — all for something they knew was coming. All for something they tried to stop the inevitable from occurring for. Perhaps, it was a moot point. Perhaps, they could have spent their energy more wisely.

But, which is worse? Not knowing what you had until it's gone? Or knowing what you had and losing it despite your best efforts?

Lady Olive Cordelia Fitzroy of Northampton had grown accustomed to knowing everything she had or could have yet never getting it. Being the eldest of four daughters to a Marquess, she knew the disappointment her father held in his heart over the fact that there would be no one to carry on their family name. No one to take over his title when he meets his end. She knew that, while her father loved her and her sisters, all he could see when he looked at them were the reflections of her now-deceased mother. Olive Fitzroy was no stranger to feeling out of place in her own home. To the feeling of loss. To knowing that at one point in time she had everything handed to her. There were not many things women could do in society, not many things women had their ability to pick and choose with other than their suitor and the person they would eventually bear the name and title of. And like every little girl, Olive Fitzroy had expected to find herself a love match. To fall in love with a Prince Charming that would sweep her off of her feet — that was never the thing she lost. But, losing her mother caused her to lose her chance. Olive Fitzroy was thrown into a spot she was not prepared for, forced into playing house (re-playing make believe parent) so her then four-year-old sister could have someone to look up to. There was nothing within that that Olive regretted, especially when she was able to look at her eight-year-old sister and see a young girl that exuded happiness.

Lady Olive Fitzroy knew she would give up her chance at the ton and their seasons if it meant being able to get her to beam that positively radiant smile. She was burdened with the thoughts of what could have happened had she not let go. But, then again, Olive Fitzroy was quite certain that she may have meet her Prince Charming. But, then again, a Prince Charming would indicate a happy ending.

Colin Bridgerton was a strange dichotomy — while he had a way with words, a capability of painting a picture for a person through the use of his educated vocabulary, he was not able to see the things that happened before him. Or understand each and every feeling that existed within him. Though, many within his family liked to believe that he could and he just willfully ignored it all to enjoy the present — he had never been the one to worry about things yet to come. Colin Bridgerton owned a soul that craved more than what the ton could provide him, he needed adventure and to see sights that no one around him had. He needed to be able to explain those sights, tell the world about his adventures despite knowing that not one soul would ever read his words. Colin Bridgerton had forever been branded as the child that didn't know what he had until it slipped away from his grasp. The feeling was something he was used to now, looking back and realizing just how precious something used to be in his life. But it wasn't there anymore, it wouldn't be there anymore, so there was no point in crying over spilt milk. No point in trying to bring it back when it was already in his horizon.

Here's the thing: Olive Fitzroy's Prince Charming never knew he was a Prince Charming. He wouldn't have liked that title (at least not at the time) and he surely didn't like her the same way. Her heart had been stolen long before she would have made her debut in a season, no, her heart had been stolen when she was a child. It was a privilege of Olive's to grow up with friends, to know that her mother and her aunt were good friends with Violet Bridgerton. For her sisters to become thick as thieves with Daphne and Eloise Bridgerton (though, important to note that Olive was close with them as well). And it was there, at Aubrey Hall, that Olive's heart had been stolen by a boy a mere six months older than she. For as long as she could remember, her heart was held in the palm of Colin Bridgerton's hands — with him none the wiser.

And she never planned on letting anyone know, of displaying her secret and letting people see beneath the meticulously created mask she wore. But now as she neared the dreaded age of four-and-twenty, her father wanted to see his daughter set for life. He couldn't bear the thought of his daughter stuck as a spinster because she decided to not participate in the seasons to help him care for her sisters. And, well, to be quite frank: Olive Fitzroy would have rather died than be placed in an arranged marriage and forced into relations with a man she did not love.

So, the story goes, two good friends need something along the same lines. Olive, trying to escape an arranged marriage with a man she did not love, and Colin, trying to escape his mother's want for him to be married. It couldn't have been more convenient — two friends getting married to each other to save the other from their problems.

Except, human emotions are impossible to understand. And just like that tide ebbing and flowing, things will be uncovered, and some people are going to end up hurt.

BUT THE RAIN IS ALWAYS GONNA COME IF YOU'RE STANDING WITH ME.

LADY OLIVE CORDELIA FITZROY
portrayed by kristine frøseth

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ADDITIONAL CAST
Jude Law ... Marquess Augustus Fitzroy of Northampton
Emily Blunt ... Marchioness Lillian Fitzroy
Joanna Vanderham ... Lady Emmeline Fitzroy
Elle Fanning ... Lady Dorothy Fitzroy
(Y!)Mackenzie Foy ... Lady Eleanor Fitzroy
Hugh Grant ... Earl Arthur Pembroke of Pembroke
Rosamund Pike ... Countess Cordelia Pembroke
Imogen Waterhouse ... Lady Guinevere Lillian Pembroke
Toby Regbo ... Earl Christopher Pembroke of Pembroke
Josh Whitehouse ... The Hon Phineas Pembroke
Douglass Booth ... The Hon Ambrose Pembroke
Lily James ... Lady Wilhelmina Alice Fortescue
Alisha Boe ... Lady Cecelia Madelene Berkeley
Callum Turner ... Viscount Nathaniel Haddington
Charlie Cox ... The Hon Theodore St. Vincent

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AUTHORS NOTE

I can't believe I'm doing this butttttt first fic of 2024 (and it's for a fandom that I haven't watched the show for???) (I am reading the books and plan on starting the show within the next few weeks when I get paid and pay for Netflix lmao) (but it's a funny thing like haha I've never watched the show but here's my fic)!

Butttt ... marriage of convenience trope for the win (I love it when they're like "yeah we're helping each other by doing this, totally not because we're in love")!! They're so special to me — if you've seen my TikTok (which if you haven't and want to watch pls do) then you know just how much I love them 😭. I've only known Olive for like four days and I would do anything to protect her and I swear to god. She deserves the world (move over Colin I'm stealing your wife).

Anywho, please leave your thoughts and let me know how you guys feel about this fic!! The first update/prologue may take some time to come up (I want to watch the show and figure out where exactly I want the fic to start bc it'll be at some point during the first season but after the ... y'know ... marina storyline).

DISCLAIMERS
1. I do not own any of the plot lines and or characters created for the Bridgerton series (books and show included). Any and all other characters and plot lines that are not seen in the books/show are my own, please don't steal.

2. This book may contain some of these things: violence, blood, gore, death, drugs, alcohol consumption, sex, crude language, mental health, etc. Please do not interact with this material if it will mess with your mental health!

DEDICATIONS
to the hogwarts founders: ownthelight, angeIeyes,
findtheforce
to the milfs: halosnite, foxgIoves, fxllmoons, awfulmoons, bananapopsicIes
and to my many other friends whom I love and appreciate: spacemania, silksenses, sombersuns, arsvenal, aethrastic_dreamxx, bayports, luckyvirgo, elfaouly, bokuroos, xonceuponatimex, dunbonnet, protectremus, sanktham, luckyvirgo, REGULUSBLVCK, svperboy, starryeyedturtle!

thank you for reading,
A HYMN OF THE HEART.