honorhearted - Tumblr blog

[honorhearted]

Benjamin bristled at the growling force behind the king's words, deserved though they may be. "You should know more than anyone that you cannot control people, nor the outcome of God's will," he gritted. "Your fawning sycophants may claim praise in your presence, but there is unrest in this castle. Your rulership has been called into question -- so perhaps you and I should both apologize to that boy, seeing how your reign has caused my friends to act!"

He no longer saw a point in remaining silent. Cenred was likely to execute him, and Benjamin was no coward.

When pressed about the druid settlement, he fired back, "It was supposed to be a catalyst, not the end to all tyranny! I just didn't realize it would push in the opposite direction...that someone else's orders would be heeded rather than my own. Because I can assure you, sire, if they had listened to me, those women and children would still be alive. We are not barbarians."

Cenred stormed past him, amazingly choosing not to run him through with his own sword. The door clicked into place behind him, and Benjamin exhaled through his nose, slow and deep.

--

Something was wrong. Shouts arose from the end of the corridor, followed by the telltale sound of clashing swords, before all went silent -- eerily so -- and rushing over to his cell door, Benjamin peered between the bars to the best of his ability.

To his shock, the guard standing outside his door was distant-eyed and agape. He appeared to be under some sort of spell...

"Drummond," he hissed, trying to get his attention. "Sir Drummond!"

The man ignored him, still unmoving, and when Benjamin yanked on the door, he was stunned to find it unbarred. It swung open with a groaning creak. Not bothering to check on Drummond's state, he instead stole the sword directly from his hand and crept through the corridor.

Before long, Benjamin came to the end and blanched at the sight laid before him: a couple knights laid dead and bleeding out across the floor, and there at the end of the hall was Cenred, gripping his middle while his own hand was covered in crimson. Had his knights pulled through, after all? But no...this was not their works -- no one in his group was magical.

Deciding he needed to investigate, Benjamin gritted his teeth and approached Cenred in a rush of haste, genuflecting as he commanded, "Quickly! Who did this? Where did they go?"

It was possible they were a friend, given the attack on Cenred, but it was also possible they were not, and he needed to know who was responsible.

A humourless bark of laughter is given in response to Benjamin's words. "Oh, well, that's alright then, if you didn't mean for it to happen. Shall we bring the child down here, and tell him it's fine that his entire family were slaughtered in front of him, as it wasn't your intention?" he growled, his knuckles white against the hilt of the knight's confiscated sword.

Benjamin's naivety was shocking, and he scoffed his disbelief. Did he actually think that no woman or children would be hurt?

"How exactly does an attack on a Druid settlement end tyrannical rulership?" he retorted, furiously. "And do you have so little regard for your own sex that you truly do not care if innocent men are killed? No-one in that settlement deserved to die."

He stepped out of the cell before he could drive Benjamin through with his own sword: the executioner would be busy today, it seemed.

"Your Majesty?" a timid voice called, and he glanced towards one of his guards. "The sorceress Morgause has arrived." Nodding his acknowledgement, he locked Benjamin into the cell without sparing him another glance and strode back out of the dungeons.

[honorhearted]

[honorhearted]

“Drink. You sound like death.” 

Her offer, though perhaps given from a place of compassion, sounded more like an offer of grudging reluctance than actual kindness. Benjamin reached for the canteen with shaking fingers, his body collapsing back against the earth once he'd clasped the water. Or at least, he hoped it was water.

After discreetly sniffing the canteen and ascertaining that yes, it wasn't some sort of hair-raising moonshine, Benjamin guzzled a generous amount before rolling over and coughing anew, retching and almost vomiting up the water. "Christ," he swore. He could practically feel his father's disapproving scowl from beyond the Sound.

“Don’t soldiers like to keep ladies entertained?" he heard the woman prodding from behind. "I was bored and needed something to do while waiting for you to wake the hell up. For a while there, I thought maybe you might be dead – had to kick you a couple times to make sure.” 

Still wheezy, Benjamin rolled back over and scowled at her. "Your compassion...knows no bounds," he gasped out.

The woman introduced herself as "Nina Zenik," and somehow, her declaration made him even more anxious than before. Any "smuggling friend" of Brewster's tended to be on the lower side of society, and judging by this woman's blatant disregard for basic decency, he was willing to wager she was far, far down that particular rung.

Despite his protests, Nina leaned down and helped him up into a sitting position. “Might want to stay close to the fire there, pony boy," she advised. "You’re still buck ass nude under that blanket of yours, so I wouldn’t take any chances challenging the Trenton cold.”

Nude?

In a panic, Benjamin finally realized that yes, he did feel rather unencumbered, and mouth dropping in horror, he clumsily toppled onto his side in his failed efforts at erecting distance between them. "Where are my clothes?" he demanded. "Surely, they would've dried by now?"

Face burning pink, he tugged his blankets up to rest beneath his chin, his mouth growing pinched as his scowling intensified. This woman was unconscionable. Who on earth had raised her? She had the charm of a sewer rat, and manners to match.

"I'd like my clothes, please," Benjamin said more firmly, hoping to add a hint of authority to his tone. He was a Continental officer, and therefore deserved a modicum of respect. Eyes shifting back up to her shako -- correction: his damned shako -- he added, "And take that off. My uniform isn't for play."

Watching as the man pathetically struggled to reach her, only to wind up back on the ground in a sad crumpled heap, she shook her head, “Negative eight out of ten, sir. Terrible form.” 

Tallmadge coughed and sputtered from the dryness in his throat, and with a sigh and a roll of her eyes, Nina reached for her canteen and offered it to him, “Drink. You sound like death.” 

"That's...mine," he practically wheezed, "What a man writes down...it's private." 

“Don’t soldiers like to keep ladies entertained? I was bored and needed something to do while waiting for you to wake the hell up. For a while there, I thought maybe you might be dead – had to kick you a couple times to make sure.” 

With a scowl, he asked, “Who are you?"

“Nina Zenik,” she answered as she stood, offering a mock bow “Smuggler extraordinaire, at your service.” 

Here, she stooped down and helped him up into a sitting position, “Might want to stay close to the fire there, pony boy. You’re still buck ass nude under that blanket of yours, so I wouldn’t take any chances challenging the Trenton cold.”

[honorhearted]

°•Imagine: Benjamin finding out Marquis de Lafayette has feelings for his life long friend (y/n). P.S- Hamilton is hardcore Judging•°

[honorhearted]

How did I not know about Turn, the upcoming Revolutionary War spy series (!!!!!!!!) from AMC?

I basically need it in my life ASAP and I am just glad I never heard of it before because this makes the wait shorter.

I am fascinated by the Revolutionary era and there are so few movies/novels/shows set during it.

So excited it’s sick, seriously.

[honorhearted]

[honorhearted]

“You melted into me like butter in the sun.” 

"Butter in a pan, more like," Benjamin replied, deciding to play in to her ego. "I caved pretty quickly, all things considered... But then again, to deny your hands-on approach would've been rude." Smirking, he lightly flicked a handful of bathtub water in her direction, chuckling as she approached. "What? Nothing to say now?"

Anna's expression grew guarded as she folded her arms. “What do you think it was?” she challenged.

Smile wiping clean, Benjamin furrowed his brow. "You're answering my question with a deflection?"

Wincing, she amended, “What do you want it to be?”

For God's sake...

Exhaling, he reclined in the tub and drew a hand over his eyes, tempted to sink down underneath the tepid water. "Forgive me, but I thought my feelings were relatively plain on this matter...or do you think I'd just be intimate with anyone who offers?"

Sliding his hand from his face, Benjamin peered up at her with long-lashed resignation. "You may have children, but I love them...you may be older, but I love you -- and I always have." He shrugged. "Perhaps it's unwise to sleep with a friend, but I also felt oddly safe and secure for my first time. Well..." Here, he offered a sheepish smile. "Perhaps not so safe when you all but attacked me, but the sentiment remains."

Sitting up straight, Benjamin reached for her hand. "What are you so afraid of, Anna? For as long as I've known you, I've never seen you afraid of anything. Why start now? Why start with me?"

Despite her horror, Ben’s laughter over the ludicrous situation sated her into a small laughing fit of her own as she shook her head and ran her hand down her face. 

“Isn’t this just our luck?” she chortled. 

Well, maybe if you'd been able to control yourself, we could've erred on the side of caution," he teased. 

“You melted into me like butter in the sun.” 

Ben didn’t seemed very phased, smugly grinned as he leaned back in the tub, "If nothing else, you should be proud Keturah is so discerning -- but also concerned, because this means Brewster might have been...well...a little too forthcoming with his late night talks."

That earned a dejected sigh, “Keturah is too clever for her own good, without Brewster’s influence…” 

"Should we lie, or...? W-well, yes, we should naturally lie in the sense we should gloss over what truly occurred, but...?" 

Anna held her breath. 

"What should we tell them, Anna? What even was this?"

An error in judgment, she wanted to say, but while that was partially true, it was hardly something she regretted. For some time now, she’d been viewing Ben in a different light, one she hadn’t been able to determine as romantic until that night on the enemy’s boat. 

Since then, she’d been rattled with uncertainty about how to approach it. Many a night she’d spent restlessly tossing and turning as she tried her hardest to shove the feelings down – far from her heart and mind, but it’d been so pathetically futile. The man had moved her in ways she’d been unyielding since Selah’s death. He made her feel things she didn’t believe herself capable of ever feeling again. 

But what of Ben? Just because he’d pined for her as a child, and as a young man, that didn’t mean he necessarily felt things for her akin to true love. Had he merely given into a nostalgic desire, or did he want her just as fervently as he once had? She couldn’t be sure. 

Arms folded, she shrugged and gestured toward him, approaching the tub slowly, “What do you think it was?” No, maybe that wasn’t the right question, “What do you want it to be?”

[honorhearted]

Look at this cutie! Look at him!

[honorhearted]

Before Benjamin could latch onto the palace quip, Anne felt the need to confess about her marriage bed, and he snapped his head in her direction, startled. "Oh, but...you had a son," he feebly pointed out. "Surely, he...?" Trailing off -- such matters were not appropriate to discuss, welcomed or not -- he exhaled, apologetic. "I'm sorry," he murmured. "I swear my aim was to amuse you, not dredge up painful memories."

At her question, he was quick to reassure, "The knights never had anything negative to say about you -- I promise. Unlike your husband, you were actually pleasant to be around."

Anne waved off his apology, seemingly unbothered. She spoke instead of Rochefort, and Benjamin listened with a twisting sensation in his stomach.

"I'm so very glad you were able to fend him off," he replied. "I'm sorry I wasn't there... I seem to recall Rochefort requesting a private audience that day, and that neither of you were to be disturbed under any circumstances, and..." He exhaled, visible disgust bleeding into his face. "Well, if I had known, let's just say he would've lost both eyes that day."

"I have yet to be provided with a palace," she pointed out, with a twitch of her lips. "Although, under the circumstances, I would be willing to reconsider my judgement if I'm still alive by the week's end."

An eyebrow quipped upwards at his unexpected comment about the recently departed King, but her curiosity was piqued. "Is that so? I never slept beside him. He could barely stand to be in my company for more than a few minutes," she admitted, impassively. Theirs had always been marriage of duty, of convenience, and whatever fondness that initially existed between them had quickly disappeared. Evidently, a few minutes was all it took to conceive. "What did the guards say about me, I wonder?"

Waving away Benjamin's apology, she offered him a faint, reassuring smile. "No, please. I appreciate the distraction," she replied. If she did not make light of their situation, she was concerned that she wouldn't be able to fight off the tears any longer.

Urging her horse into a slow walk, her smile grew at Benjamin's surprise. "It was more instinct than skill," she admitted. "Rochefort tried to force himself upon me, and a fork was all I could reach to defend myself. I was lucky I made contact with his eye, as it seemed he learnt his lesson after that," she informed him, her face tightening. Despite the unpleasant memories, it was rather freeing to talk about it, at last; Louis would never have believed that his adored First Minister had laid his hands on her.

[honorhearted]

“The moment I read that you’d agreed to be my Robin, my darling suitor, I only ever wanted to…” Moira paused, yet Benjamin found it impossible to stop, his lips trailing up her throat as she arched her neck. “To be with you…only you…” 

Her fervent declaration made his head spin, and elated, he just as breathlessly assured her, "You have me -- all of me." I am entirely yours. No one else's.

Dropping the fall front of his breeches, Benjamin gave a soft hiss of pleasure when Moira wrapped her legs around him, drawing him forward until he was grinding against her folds. To feel her so slick, so sopping made him shudder, and catching his weight against the harpsichord, his knees nearly buckled once she rolled up to meet his languid thrusts.

“I want your cock,” she gasped, tugging harshly at his hair, “and I want you to finish inside me…” 

Stunned, he peered back at her in open-mouthed disbelief, panting into their half-kiss as their lips grazed with silent need. He wanted it too -- he wanted this, he wanted her -- and despite Benjamin's lack of experience, he didn't hesitate when he hoisted Moira's legs up to frame his waist, his mouth colliding harshly with hers to silence his low, throaty groan once he breached her heat and slid in to the hilt.

Fuck...

Scarcely able to breathe, he shuddered as she throbbed around him, clenching and welcoming his length more deeply inside her. Fumbling at the instrument beneath them, Benjamin moved his hips in a couple careful, sketching strokes, testing her comfort before he broke the kiss and appraised her with mounting desire.

"More?" he gasped, brushing his nose over hers. "Can I...c-can I move?"

Despite his careful movements, his gentle rocking between her thighs caused Moira's backside to press into the keys, creating yet another ugly dissonance each time he drove inside her.

She’d saved him? Did he mean that? Moira supposed that he’d intended to say such things only to convince her to sleep with him, he would have said so beforehand, not during. No, she decided, it must be true. He must mean it.

To think, all this time, she’d had more than just a friend to confide in and who’d confided in her – a man who had harbored affections for her, who pined for her, longed for her. The overwhelming joy was now evidently spent between her legs. 

Desperately, needfully, she tasted him, enveloping every pleasured sound he uttered as she tried to help him undo his fallflap, her hands trembling just as fervently. The fabric pressed into her clit and she moaned in aching want for him.

He kissed her everywhere and she snaked her arms upward, her fingers snagging into his hair and tugging harshly as another wave of desire throbbed through her heat. 

Say something to him, she inwardly scolded herself, tell him how you feel, reassure him how much you want him. 

“The moment I read that you’d agreed to be my Robin, my darling suitor, I only ever wanted to…” she paused briefly, breathless as his mouth smeared across her breasts, “To be with you…only you…” 

Was that too much? When she repeated it in her head, it sounded ridiculous. She wasn’t even entirely certain he’d heard her in his lustful haze. 

"Don't you...? D-do you want my mouth?" he slurred, making her dizzy with the sensation of his fingers returning to her heat. Fuck. It felt good. It felt good, but it wasn’t enough. She needed more. 

“I want your cock,” she gasped, tugging him forward by his hair, “And I want you to finish inside me…” 

Maybe that was much too forward, given the fact that her request came with the risk of a child, but after all he’d said to her, would he truly be so opposed?

[honorhearted]

Ben + looking like he’s about to straight fall asleep on the way into West Point

[honorhearted]

someone: fight me you neurotic little kitten with anger issues and pneumonia ben: can’t it isn’t befitting of an officer. and i don’t have pneumonia  someone: fine but washington would totally lie about the cherry tree if he actually had the gumption to chop one down in the first place ben:

[honorhearted]

It's very fine to meet you, Mrs. Woodhull. I seem to remember your husband as a much quieter man.

[honorhearted]

The woman wasn't much for talking. Although not unusual, per se -- Anna, herself, wasn't a garrulous sort -- Benjamin thought most women were relatively fond of speaking, so a seed of frustration bloomed within his breast at her lack of cooperation. Hadn't he done everything right? Hadn't be been polite and honest?

After pulling out a chair for his taciturn guest, Benjamin watched Elizabeth take a seat before placing a small wooden plate in front of her. "I hope you're hungry," he said. "Waste not, want not..." He indicated the meat and dumplings -- a common meal prepared there in camp -- before pulling up the chair across from her. With women, he found his best tactic wasn't to crowd out and intimidate, so he opted to (literally) lower down to her level.

"You're safe now," Benjamin gently coaxed. "Whatever those men did...whatever they told you...you're safe here. I won't let anything happen to you, nor your unborn child." He nodded toward her protruding middle. "Whatever you say won't extend beyond these four walls. I promise."

Such sweet words and pretty compliments from an enemy. He was trying to appeal to her better nature. Did he think it would be that easy to gain her trust, after what these rebels had done to her? 

"I'm not asking anything unreasonable," he said, "I just need to speak with you for a moment -- away from any and all influence -- so that you can tell me what happened. That's all."

Influence? Now he thought she was incapable of autonomy? The nerve of this arsehole made her want to scream. Even so, a part of her did wish to look back to Davis for his input.

It wasn’t merely her head on the line, after all. Still, Davis had known her since she was a child and no doubt he was confident that she wouldn’t so easily condemn the people she considered to be like family. 

Tallmadge offered his hand and Bess had to fight the urge to smack it away, instead taking hold of it and compliantly following him to wherever he’d planned to interrogate speak with her. It was some sort of stone building. Barracks of some kind. 

The place was stale and musty, or so it seemed. Perhaps her sense of smell was simply overly sensitive given her delicate state.

Her stomach churned uncomfortably as she took the seat he pulled out for her, left once again to stare at him and wait until he began his barrage of questions she didn’t intend to answer.

[honorhearted]

While he paced from one end of the tent to the other, Rebekah's voice carried over to him from her cot, soft and matter-of-fact. “You’re stuck here in camp,” she said. “How can you see the whole picture when you’re confined to one place, squinting through a limited spyglass?” 

Benjamin offered a bitter smile. "It isn't as though I have much choice," he agreed. "I'm needed here at camp -- Washington can't afford to have all his officers gallivanting elsewhere -- so I'm afraid a limited view is inevitable."

Rebekah rose from her cot, her slight frame exhibiting the determination he'd long since grown to expect. “Send me to New York," she implored. "I can get close to Matthews and Tryon, and I’ll find out the extent of their involvement and any other plans they might have.”

"What?" Horrified, Benjamin was quick to shake his head. "No. Absolutely not. I've already lost far too many to this war -- my men, my friends..." Our son. Swallowing, he amended, "To risk you, as well... I just can't do it. I won't let you go by yourself to an area overflowing with redcoats."

Rebekah firmly took hold of his shoulders. "Let me be your eyes where you can't see."

Curling his hands around her wrists, Benjamin swallowed and shook his head. "No...Bekah, you're not hearing me. You may not know Tryon and Mathews, but that doesn't mean they don't know of our tactics. Someone in camp has been feeding them intelligence, so God only knows what they know about us -- potentially you, as well."

"Sort it out how?" he challenged, "Torture more of our men? Enact another hanging?" 

Rebekah opened her mouth to respond, but no answer came. With visible irritation, he swiftly discarded his shako, the gaudy accessory landing beside her on the cot. 

"Bekah, we've killed two threats without ensuring that there aren't more -- we can't fully stop the snake without definitively lopping off its head!"

She knew that. She did. But how could they hope to lop off the bloody head if they couldn’t get to New York? Tryon and Matthews were clearly serious contenders. If they could only get to them, then maybe they’d stand a fighting chance at uprooting the rest of the weeds in the army’s yard. 

"Who would we even send to New York?" he asked, pacing the length of the tent and rattling off their disadvantages. The slam of his fist upon her dresser rattled the contents upon its surface, the sound as hollow as she felt inside. 

“I am useless these days, Bekah -- useless! -- and I fear his faith in me is fading...much as I am losing faith in myself.”

Damn it. She hated that. She hated that he felt so disheartened, that Washington had put him in this position in the first place. Benjamin was working himself to the bone day in and day out, and for what, to be told that he still wasn’t good enough? That could never be true. At least not to her. 

“There is something out there I'm just not seeing, and I don't know why."

“You’re stuck here in camp,” she finally answered, her fists clenching and unclenching on her knees, “How can you see the whole picture when you’re confined to one place, squinting through a limited spyglass?” 

With newfound determination she stood and closed the gap between them, placing her hands on his broad shoulders, “Send me to New York. I can get close to Matthews and Tryon, and I’ll find out the extent of their involvement and any other plans they might have.”

Here, she gave his shoulders a firm squeeze, "Let me be your eyes where you can't see."

[honorhearted]

[honorhearted]

Benjamin scoffed. "So you found him average? Since when do you settle for subpar?" Despite his heckling, there was amusement shining in his eyes, stark and warm. "Need I remind you of just who you are in this ton? Many a man would be lucky to have you, so there's no need to settle."

Thinya, unfortunately, seemed far from abandoning her self-detriment. "What makes you say that?" Benjamin asked. Here, he started scanning the crowd, attempting to find who she might be alluding to. "I know I can be insufferable, but perhaps I can help you speak with him? Friends, after all, make it far easier to become ingratiated to other social circles. And if he has a sister for me? Well..." Here, he grinned, lifting his shoulders. "Even better."

Thinya finally seemed to realize just what Lord Spencer had been up to, and after swiping a flute of champagne from a serving tray -- and nearly startling the poor gentleman holding it, for good measure -- she took a generous swallow of liquid courage.

"This is why you don't just settle," Benjamin reminded her. "Unless, of course, you're content to be ogled like a prized slab of meat during a famine?"

The woman sighed as she heard her friend's arguments regarding Lord Spencer. In all honesty, Thinya wasn't particularly fond of him. She just thought he was the less of the worst options she had see. If she could say that. At least, his breath wasn't smelling alcohol, or he didn't attempt to grab her bottom publicly. Or didn't whisper to her obscene things in her ear to show her his power. "I guess you've got a point. I just... I have the feeling he was.. Okay." She shrugged. Of course, the brunette had someone else in mind, a man who particularly caught her off guard one evening. Just the simple exchange of words, made her face enlightened with a genuine smile.

Alas, she had the feeling that he was out of her league. After all, her was a Viscount, she was just.. An aristocrat, but with a lower title. Besides, Anthony Bridgerton had other ladies already fighting to be the one and only woman he would choose to become his next wife. It was pointless to battle for this.

"I do believe that I cannot reach that one particular man I have in mind. And I just try to forget about him by letting others approach me." She sighed and looked at her friend as he mentioned the fact that Lord Spencer was peering down Mrs. Featherington's gown for a while. Thinya's face showed an expression of disgust. He was definitely now disqualified. "Gross." Thinya simply said as she grabbed a glass of champagne that the valet brought on a silver plate. She sighed and shook her head before spotting Anthony, her eyes showing fondness as she sipped on her champagne.