Siena flinches at the words, her heart pounding so hard it feels like it will burst from her chest, "I-I didn't mean to-"
   "Didn't mean to?" Lady Mountbatten interrupts, her voice rising with an edge of contemptuous laughter, "Didn't mean to what? Pray, spare me the pitiful excuses. You think intentions matter? You think your feelings will absolve you? How absurd," she steps closer, her imposing figure towering over Siena, her face set in a grim, unyielding mask, "What matters, Siena, is that you have committed a sin so vile, so unnatural, it threatens to unravel everything I have worked to build. Do you even grasp the gravity of what you've done? You've risked the reputation of this family, the standing of your bloodline— for what?"
   Siena stumbles backward, her hands clenching into fists at her sides, her eyes wide with horror, "I-It's not like that-"
   "Silence!" Lady Mountbatten snaps, her voice thunderous now, echoing through the room, "Do not presume to speak of what you know nothing about. I have sacrificed everything to ensure this family remains untarnished in the eyes of the world. And you—" she points an accusing finger at Siena, as though aiming a dagger, "—you dare risk it all for a girl?"
   The words land like a slap across Siena's face, stinging her deeply, "Eloise is not-"
   "She is nothing!" Lady Mountbatten seethes, her eyes blazing with fury, "Do you think her feelings matter in the slightest? She is a woman— a woman!And yet you've dragged us all into the filth of your sickness."
Siena's breath hitches, tears now streaming down her face, lips pursed to suppress the sobs slamming against the insides of her cheeks. Her mind is racing, searching for some way to defend herself, but she can barely think.
   Lady Mountbatten's lip curls in disgust as she watches her granddaughter crumble before her, "I should have seen it sooner—the sickness inside you. It festers in your mind, in your soul. And you dare call it love? They will condemn you, cast you out. But more importantly, they will drag our name through the muck. And that, I will not allow."
Siena shakes her head weakly, her voice barely above a whisper. She had just started getting the courage to share her love, but with every word uttered by the woman she fears more and more that the mentality of her society might cost her her life.
   "I should not be condemned for loving-"
   "Loving? Siena, this is not love!" Lady Mountbatten's voice raises before she lowers it again with a pinch of her nose, "You are sick, can you not see that? Surely, there must be something wrong with you for you to feel these- these things!"
   Siena looks down, shutting her eyes with a silent sob and shaking her head, "I am not si-"
   "Do not think I will not let this shame cling to us. No one will hear of your depravity, if that is what you fear. I will see to it that the Mountbatten name remains untarnished."
   Siena's breath catches in her throat, her tears streaming down her cheeks, "You... You won't tell anyone?"
She would not want to involve her mama by confessing to the vile woman that her family already knows. Who knows if she possesses power great enough to punish the entire DeLucas into ruin. She would never bring such hell onto her family.
   The old woman steps closer again, lowering her voice, her presence looming like a dark shadow, "You will be cured." She simply states, her words filled with a terrifying calm.
   "C-Cured?"
   The woman hums, "And should you defy me in any way... should you so much as think about seeing that girl again... I will ruin her. I will see to it that she is cast out of society, that she is left destitute. I will make her suffer for your sins."