She looked out the window and thought about what she was walking into.
The Hartwells were old money.
Conservative.
The kind of family that valued appearances above almost everything else.
Which meant whatever happened at that dinner hadn't just been embarrassing — it had been unforgivable in their eyes.
And Thessine had been the one they pointed at.
She needed to be careful.
The carriage slowed and stopped.
She stepped out and looked up at the Hartwell gates.
Grand. Intimidating. Firmly closed.
The guard at the gate looked at her. Then at the flowers. Then back at her with the expression of someone doing very rapid mental calculations.
"Lady Beaumont." His voice was carefully neutral. "Do you have an appointment?"
"I don't." she said. "Please inform Duke and Duchess Hartwell that Thessine Margot Beaumont is here and would like a moment of their time. I won't take long."
The guard hesitated.
"I understand if they choose not to see me." she added calmly. "But please ask."
He disappeared inside.
She stood at the gates and waited. The flowers were getting heavy. She adjusted them under her arm and kept her expression neutral.
A full five minutes passed.
Then ten.
She was beginning to think the answer was going to be a very pointed silence when the guard reappeared.
"The Duke and Duchess will see you," he said. Something in his expression suggested he was as surprised as she was.
She exhaled once.
Quietly.
"Thank you."
She was led through the gates and across a perfectly maintained courtyard into a grand sitting room that had been decorated with the specific intention of making visitors feel slightly inferior.
Everything was expensive and carefully placed and designed to communicate that the people who lived here did not need to try.
Duke Edmond and Duchess Celeste Hartwell were already seated when she entered.
Duke Edmond was a broad shouldered man somewhere in his forties with the kind of face that had settled permanently into displeasure. He looked at her the way someone looks at something they had stepped on.
Twice.
Duchess Celeste sitting beside him was not what she expected.
She was around the same age as her husband, composed and striking, with calm intelligent eyes that moved over her guest with quiet unhurried assessment.
There was something almost philosophical about the way she sat,like she was observing the world from a slight comfortable distance and finding it consistently interesting.
She was smiling slightly.
Like she already knew something interesting was about to happen.
Thessine set the flowers carefully on the table and clasped her hands in front of her.
"Your Graces." she said evenly. "I came to clear the air."
Duke Edmond's expression didn't change. If anything it hardened.
"Clear the air," he repeated. The word came out flat and unimpressed. "You come here with flowers and a pretty dress after what happened in my dinner party."
"I understand your frustration, Your Grace." she said calmly. "And I won't insult you by pretending I don't know why I was singled out that evening."
He opened his mouth.
"My past behavior made me an easy target." she continued evenly. "I am not here to argue whether what happened was my fault or not. I am here because regardless of what occurred that evening my conduct leading up to it gave everyone present every reason to point at me. And for that I am truly sorry."
Duke Edmond stared at her.
That was clearly not the speech he had been expecting.
"You caused chaos at three separate events hosted by families in this circle," he said. "You embarrassed yourself and everyone around you on more occasions than I care to count. And now you want to clear the air."
"Yes." she said simply. "Because someone has to start somewhere."
Silence.
Duke Edmond looked at her with the expression of a man who wanted to remain angry and was finding it slightly more difficult than anticipated.
"Husband."
Duchess Celeste rose from her seat and crossed the room toward Thessine with a small unhurried smile. She stopped directly in front of her and tilted her head slightly.
"Permit me." she said softly.
Before Thessine could respond the Duchess raised her hand and placed it gently against her cheek.
Not unkind.
Almost tender.
Her calm intelligent eyes looked directly into Thessine's and stayed there.
A long moment passed.
Duke Edmond watched from his seat looking thoroughly unsure about all of this.
Then Duchess Celeste smiled. Warm and certain and completely unbothered by the confusion on everyone else's face.
"Look at her eyes." she said almost to herself. "They're no longer clouded."
She stepped back and picked up the flowers from the table bringing them to her nose with a pleased expression.
"She really did come here with sincerity." She glanced back at her husband with an expression that was pleasant and entirely immovable. "I believe her."
Duke Edmond stared at his wife. Then at Thessine. Then back at his wife.
He opened his mouth.
Then, closed it.
Made a sound somewhere between a scoff and a grumble that didn't quite become words.
Duchess Celeste ignored him serenely.
"They smell divine." she said, still looking at the flowers. Then she looked back at Thessine with those warm steady eyes. "Sit down dear. Have some tea."
Thessine blinked.
"I — yes. Thank you, Your Grace."
She sat.
Duke Edmond muttered something under his breath. His wife glanced at him once with a smile that was somehow both gentle and completely terrifying.
He said nothing further.
Thessine watched the exchange quietly and filed it away carefully.
The most powerful man in the room was significantly more afraid of his wife than he would ever admit out loud.
Interesting...
Very interesting..
Tea was brought in quietly by a servant who very carefully did not make eye contact with anyone.
Duke Edmond sat stiffly across from them, cup in hand, radiating the specific energy of a man who had been overruled in his own sitting room and was still processing it.
Thessine kept her posture straight and her hands steady.
Duchess Celeste poured with unhurried elegance and pushed a cup toward her guest.
"You said you came to clear the air." she said pleasantly. "But it looks like it's more than that."