Newcastle, United Kingdom
October 1851

Henry was fuming as he silently watched his granddaughter leave his study, evidently in tears. He felt guilty over speaking to her so harshly, but no amount of sympathy could distract from the burning anger that consumed him. Why was Jane so insistent upon getting out of this marriage, and more importantly, who had told her the truth about her parents' sinful past?

Taking a seat at his desk, Henry wearily reclined in his chair. "Who could have told her, Regina? No one outside the family knows, so it had to have been one of us."

Regina wondered the same thing, though as she thought back on any circumstances that might provide an explanation, she quickly came to a conclusion on how it had happened.

"Oh, God..." she muttered to herself, staring down at the floor. Henry looked up at her expectantly, to which Regina responded by walking over to the liquor cabinet and pouring she and her husband a drink. She handed him the glass as she took a sip of the foul liquid from her own glass, sighing in pleasure as it burned at her throat.

"It was Andrew," she said at last, taking a seat in the chair across from her husband's desk. "She visited him yesterday morning, so it had to have been him."

Henry was not quick to believe her. Looking at his wife skeptically, Henry took a sip of liquor and placed the glass down in front of him. "Surely not; Andrew would never betray us like that. And besides, he was the one who separated Victoria and Thomas in first place."

Regina shook her head, dismissing Henry's good opinion of his son, "No, it was him. I didn't say anything and if you didn't, then there is no other option. She was with William yesterday, but he doesn't know either, so it had to have been Andrew."

"But why would he tell her now? After all this time, what's the point?"

"I don't know," Regina sighed and furrowed her brow. "That's what's frustrating me. She was so determined to get out of this; it reminds me of when Victoria was betrothed to that old man years ago. I had thought that finding Jane someone young and handsome would have pacified her, but now with this, I'm worried that she's going to try to run."

Henry laughed, genuinely surprised by his wife's words. "Don't be silly; Jane doesn't have the resolve her mother did, nor does she have it in her to betray us in that way. She's too good."

Regina looked up at him in surprise. How could he be so blind?

"She's changed, Henry." Regina drained the rest of her drink and shivered. "I don't know how or why, but something has changed within her; she's not as complacent as she used to be."

"How so?"

Aggravated with thoughts of her granddaughter's indecency, Regina restlessly stood from her seat and went to stand by the window. "Well, for starters, no matter how many times I tell her not to, she won't stop being an insufferable flirt with the Sinclair boy."

Frowning, Henry nodded, "I have noticed that, but I don't think they spend enough time together for it to be an issue. However changed you say she is, I don't think she would dare to break a well-known arrangement over some crush."

Regina rolled her eyes, "Little girls are fools in love. Don't be so naive as to ignore that. We've made that mistake once before."

Anger flashed in Henry's clear blue eyes as his wife insulted him and once again brought up the reminder of his past failure. "This isn't like last time. I hardly think a few encounters at a ball could render her so foolishly in love as you suggest."

"If it had been merely a few encounters, I would agree with you, but their acquaintance has surpassed what could ever be appropriate. Have you forgotten her birthday celebration, Henry? How she paraded amongst our friends with that pitiful boy on her arm?" Regina shuddered at the thought of a family member of hers with such a person. "He may be handsome, but he is still a Frenchman by blood- and an untitled one at that. She has shown him favor in many public settings, and I will not tolerate it any longer."

Henry opened his mouth to speak, but he fell silent, knowing she was right. Jane had made quite a show of herself that evening. He was just thankful that all eyes had been on her that night instead of the man on her arm. Until that moment, Henry hadn't even cast a second thought on how Harry escorted Jane into the hall; he had been too shocked by her regal appearance to notice him as he shrunk back when Jane took to the dance floor. Apparently, that was not how everyone else saw it.

"What do you propose we do?" Henry looked up at his wife questioningly, his eyes begging her for a simple solution. She had always been uncommonly inventive when it came to preserving a reputation, so he had faith that whatever she suggested would work in their favor.

"The best thing would be to just send him away." Regina exhaled deeply and shut her eyes as she thought for several moments before speaking again. "But I don't wish to lose sight of him. It's better to have him here than somewhere else where he could plot and take her away like his kinsman did before him."

Henry could not help but laugh. "Forgive me, my dear, but Mr. Sinclair is not so cunning as Thomas Mercier. I have spent weeks with the boy, and I simply do not think he has it in him. However Jane has changed, he is much too observant of manners to show his host any disrespect, especially not one so great as the one Thomas paid us."

Regina was frustrated by her husband's refusal to acknowledge the threat that Harold Sinclair posed to her family. They had been blind-sighted by her daughter Victoria, and Regina had learned from her mistakes. Thus, this time she would not underestimate any of the players in this game.

Jane had already proven to be more daring than Regina had originally supposed, what with her surprising attempt to manipulate Henry into dissolving her marriage over a few scratches. Regina scoffed to herself at the girl's audacity. She was clever to blame it on James though; if the future of their company did not depend on the Hale's loyalty, Regina supposed that this might have worked.

And then there was the Sinclair boy to consider. Regina didn't know what he was capable of, nor how far he was willing to go. This instilled a sense of watchful uneasiness in her that meant she could never trust him. However virtuous or dim-witted her husband claimed Harold to be, Regina did not want to let her own interpretations blind her to the reality of what potential he had to interrupt her plans. She would investigate him herself; perhaps James could tell her something that might indicate the truth of his character. Maybe then, she could have some peace of mind, knowing that she had control of the playing field.

"Well, you might not see a problem with him, but I will not be underestimating him." Regina sighed and approached her husband's desk. "You'll keep him busy for me, won't you?"

Henry frowned, not seeing the point of his wife's persistence. Forcing a smile, Regina went to stand beside his chair where she reached down to wrap her arms around his shoulder in an affectionate embrace.

"Please," she said quietly. "Have you no compassion for my poor nerves?"

Relishing the tender sensation of his wife's touch, Henry tilted his head back to look into her enchantingly golden eyes. Despite the extensive time they had spent together, the fire in Regina's glowing eyes had not once dulled nor waned in their vitality. Her eyes were his undoing, and they always had been.

At last, Henry conceded to his wife's wishes. "Alright, I'll keep him busy." His wife's eyes gleamed even brighter. "I'll do it, but I'm going to have to do the same to James. He doesn't know what the hell he's doing, and he's going to need more training than Mr. Sinclair ever will."

Regina nodded in understanding, quickly kissing her husband's lips before standing upright again. "That's quite alright, perfect, actually. The less he and Jane interact, the better."

Henry cocked his head to the side, not understanding his wife's meaning. "Why do you say that?"

"Well, I fear that he resents her, so their interactions are not at all amiable." Regina sighed, thinking back to how James had behaved at dinner the night before. "And besides, he is drunk half the time, so that doesn't help things either."

Henry groaned, raking his hands through his gray hair, "Damn it. I almost forgot about that. I can't beleieve he hit her. He could have at least had the decency to wait until they were married."

Despite Regina's villainous roll in Jane's life, she could not help but feel somewhat irritated by her husband's comment. However determined she was to accomplish this marriage, she did not wish ill upon her granddaughter. She regretting hitting her, but she was consumed with frustration over Jane's continued insistence to converse with Harold Sinclair. For an engaged woman, it was indecent to speak to the boy as Jane did, and Regina had had enough. The Pelhams had worked tirelessly to secure this connection with the Hales, and she would be damned to see it all go to waste because of some middle-class Frenchman.

Even so, Regina did hope that Jane could find the best out of her situation. She hoped that the girl could be James' companion as she was to Henry. Despite being forced into an arranged marriage, they had had a long and prosperous time together, and Regina believed that Jane could know the same happiness they had known over the last forty-odd years. Regina knew how scary something like this could be, but she saw the good that could come from it in her own life, so she believed that Jane would come to experience the same thing.

But however much she may have sympathized with the girl, Regina was influenced by fear and paranoia. The dreadful scandal of her own daughter's making had changed her perspective on parenting. No matter how much love and leniency they showed Victoria, she still betrayed them in the most monstrous of ways. It was for that reason that Regina was so strict with her granddaughter. She feared rebellion, and though Jane was undoubtedly more subdued than her mother had been, Regina had begun to see things in Jane that struck fear into her heart. She couldn't suffer the humiliation again; she wouldn't, not if she could help it.

Dismissing her husband's comment about James' supposed violence against Jane, Regina volunteered to speak with James on Henry's behalf. And though the action seemed to be one of generosity, in Regina's mind, she saw it as an opportunity to cover up the fact that she had been the one who hit Jane. She didn't think it would go over well if James continuously denied the attack when the evidence of it was so clearly etched into Jane's porcelain skin; that would cause conflict and suspicion, and she couldn't have that.

However, Henry denied her, saying, "No, I want to handle this. James needs some sense talked into him, and I know precisely how to knock it into that thick head of his."

Regina's expression was panicked, but she forced herself to let it go. It would be too obvious what was going on if she were to make a big deal about it. Instead, she laughed lightheartedly and looked down at Henry's tired face, "Is he really that horrible with finances?"

Henry nodded in annoyance, "Yes, it's like everything I tell him goes in one ear and out the other. He has improved some since the beginning of the summer, but compared to Mr. Sinclair, it's like he hasn't learned anything. He's so unmotivated; I fear that even Jane has a better understanding of it than he does."

"Well, I would hope so," Regina smirked proudly. "I taught her how to manage a household, and that includes funds and investments. She hated it, but if her husband really is as daft as you say, she'll be thanking me."

"I think we'll all be thanking you," Henry sighed, his eyes catching on the paperwork that littered his desk. There was simply too much of it to be done, and that caused him great distress. "I might even be thanking you now; does Jane know how to balance accounts?" Henry gestured to the paper's in front of him as Regina nodded.

"If she listened to anything I told her, then yes, she does. Do you want her help?"

Henry paused for a moment before sighing in a very defeated manner, "Yes, I need to move on from accounting and onto contract law with these fools, so I won't have time to do this tedious work."

Regina nodded, "I understand. I'll tell her straight away."

"Wait," Henry took hold of her before she could leave the room. "Give her a day or two, please. She needs some time to simmer down."

There was a silence for several moments, but Regina came to agree with him. What Jane was having to face was no small trial, both of them knew that, and so they decided that for the time being, some sympathy could be shown to her. After all, Jane was doing them a tremendous service by marrying James Hale, and that was one act that could not go ignored or unappreciated.

•••

Bit of a shorter chapter, but we finally get to see some into the evil mastermind's brain :)

What do y'all think? Are Regina's actions justified at all?

Thanks for reading, my loves!
-Kate❤️