"I have sworn thee fair, and thought thee bright."
December 18th
All was not right in Fitzwilliam Darcy's world. He ought to be in Juliette's company; instead, he was waiting on his aunt's pleasure at his uncle's table without her. Her family had been invited to last week's gathering, but they were quite conspicuously absent this time. The table was less crowded without the Capulets but so much less enjoyable. The only thing her absence offered him was freedom. It wasn't freedom from Juliette, and it wasn't freedom to enjoy himself, though.
It was the freedom to glower while he decided who he despised the most.