Of course no one except the Duchess holds the honor of truly kicking off the social season, but Earl and Countess Organa come at such a close second this author must wonder at their motives. The annual Organa ball sets the tone for the entire season. Expect the ballroom to be crawling with Darling Debutantes and Ambitious Mamas on the hunt.

The prize bull this season will no doubt be Earl Saw Gerrera, whom this author has heard from a reliable source will be in attendance. Only time will tell whether this notorious rake shall emerge with another notch in his belt, or be crushed alive by would-be countesses.

Lady Whistledown's Society Papers

…

When the Honorable Miss Willamina Dendup attended her first ball, she was several years older than the other debutantes because she had spent all of her time helping her aging father to run his large country estate and manage the tenant farmers on their land. But alas the entire property was entailed to the closest male relative and she was obliged to find a husband before she was well and truly on the shelf.

Across the ballroom she met the gaze of a handsome gentleman wearing a military uniform. On his arm was quite the most exquisite of all of Mina's rivals but the girl's perfect mouth tilted up into a grin when she saw the direction of her escort's stare.

Miss Melaana Rash whispered something to him behind her delicate lace fan and then sharply closed the object with an audible snap and prodded him with it.

Suddenly Lieutenant John Bonteri was moving away from his intended and directly towards... Mina.

…

"You are the very image of your mother." Aunt Mina reached across the space between their seats in the carriage, took Soniee's hand, and gave it a squeeze. "I am sure you will be just as fortunate in your match as she was."

"I always hoped I'd be as fortunate as you and Uncle John." After all, who else did she really have as an example? Her parents may have loved each other but she had never known them. Her mother had chosen to die for the love of her husband rather than live for their child.

Or maybe that assessment wasn't quite fair. It was just that after years of being told that her mother died of a broken heart, it was easier to believe than that she had just died in childbirth.

"Your Uncle John and I were very fortunate," Aunt Mina blinked and looked out the window as they rattled their way down the cobbled streets towards the Organa's stately mansion. "Both in finding one another and for all the years we were able to spend."

It had been over a year since he'd passed but she was still wearing the lavender of half-mourning. Soniee and Sierra however had been marched into the Modiste to be fitted out for a more colorful wardrobe in preparation for the season even though Sierra was not yet out in society. And Lux had been marched home from school to play his part as Soniee's escort.

Soniee sighed and tried to change the subject. "Do you think Lux accomplished whatever he hoped by arriving at the venue ahead of us?" She smoothed out a small wrinkle in her skirt. "I think he should like it if I ended the evening with a proposal and had done with it."

"Oh, you mustn't be in such a hurry, my dear. You should enjoy your season," her guardian implored. "You needn't be terribly picky about wealth or a title with your dowry. Though you should be aware of the fortune hunters."

"I'll try." Soniee bit her lip as the carriage came to a stop and the footman opened the door and placed the block for them to step down.

Before the servant could reach up to lend a hand however Lux appeared to do the honor himself. He smiled proudly at his cousin. "Good evening, Miss Tandin, Mother." He politely performed the same task for the viscountess. "Now you don't have to worry about a thing. I've taken care of it."

Just what it was he had taken care of she didn't get a chance to ask as she was whisked up the stairs and into the crush of the event. But he did lean close to her ear to whisper her marching orders. "You will be dancing with Lord Alexsandr Kallus Yularen."

"The widower?" Soniee managed to inquire.

"I spoke to him this afternoon and I think you will find him a worthy gentleman."

…

Soniee glanced at the young woman standing across the room. Miss Dalla Yularen was Sierra's best friend, not Soniee's, but she'd learned quite a bit about her through osmosis. According to Sierra, Dalla was sharp and quick-witted, but most importantly she was Alexsandr's sister and had lived with him all her life. If anyone could be trusted to give an unbiased opinion on Soniee's potential suitor, she could.

"Miss Yularen?" she asked and waited for Dalla to look in her direction before she continued. "Forgive me if this question is a bit unusual, but is your brother … kind?"

"You mean regarding the women in his life? I assume you're referring to the fate of my sister-in-law."

"I-I didn't…"

Dalla waved her off. "It's all that anyone who comes to our home thinks about. At least you're honest." She took a sip of her lemonade. "Her name was Alissa Swain. You probably don't remember her from the debut two years ago. She was a wallflower, quiet, unassuming, not at all what you'd expect from a redhead, but she came from a good family. She knew my brother was the best match she could hope for, so she accepted his suit. They weren't in love, but Alex was forever holding doors and trying to learn about her favorite books. By the time they knew about Hannah, they were friends."

Soniee listened while Dalla continued her story. "He treated her like a princess. The Duchess herself couldn't have had a more attentive husband. One time Alissa told him that she was with child, not incapacitated, and she could butter her own toast. Alex gaped like a fish." She laughed, and just as quickly her smile dissolved. "And then the day came."

Soniee knew what had happened. Her own mother had died in the same manner, and thinking about Melaana Tandin's and Alissa Yularen's shared fate opened a pit in her stomach.

"I can't imagine," she managed to say.

Dalla was barely listening to her. "I remember when Hannah was born. Alissa was in labor for twenty-seven hours and Alex never once left her side. All of a sudden the noise just stopped. Alex was crying tears of joy and he brought Hannah out to meet us." Her mouth twisted. "I remember when Mother fetched him because Alissa was bleeding, and when Father ran to get the doctor. By the time he arrived, she was gone."

"I remember receiving the news," Soniee admitted. "It was so horrible even Lady Whistledown didn't say anything."

Dalla wiped her eyes. "No, she didn't."

"Miss - Dalla," Soniee began again more carefully. "Do you think your brother is quite… ready to … I mean it seems so soon."

"Oh yes, he's quite ready to try again. He would prefer it was a love match this time and someone who would be a good mother for little Hannah."

"Yes." Soniee did want to have children someday but she had thought they would be her own with her husband. "I know Lux said…"

"Your brother?" Dalla perked up immediately.

"Well, he's my cousin really, though he seems to think that he…" Just then Soniee saw across the ballroom the one suitor who had made the attempt to approach her behind Lux's back.

Rush Clovis had seen her and was now weaving his way through the crowd in her direction.

"I'm sorry, Dalla, I'm feeling a bit lightheaded. I'm going to go out and get some air."

…

"Do they have whiskey at these things?" Kallus scanned the tables for a drink.

"Have you forgotten so quickly?" His brother Graf jested. "The best you can hope for is champagne."

"Where's that?"

"You're not one to drink."

"You're not the one in charge of Dalla tonight."

This summoned laughter from Graf and his fiancee, Miss Andressa Divo, a woman with a smile and laugh as broad and warm as her heart.

"We don't begrudge you that duty," Graf linked arms with his future bride.

"Have some sympathy." Andressa swatted him with her fan. "Take a breath, Alexsandr. We know Dalla is… Dalla, and dealing with her can be frustrating."

"Quite possibly the understatement of the century. I'd prefer she chose not to be difficult when her life and future hang in the balance." Kallus grabbed a champagne flute off a passing tray and took a swig.

"It's not as if she's off charming rakes. Think of it as practice for when Hannah makes her debut."

Kallus went white. "That won't be for a while – she's just a baby." But oh God that eventuality seemed all too close and he was woefully unprepared. He needed to find a mother to help him bring her up properly.

Andressa changed the subject. "Where is Dalla right now?"

"At the punch bowl, thank God. Can you please keep an eye on her? I have a dance lined up with a young lady and I'd hate to miss it."

Graf took the empty glass from his hand and clapped him on the shoulder. "Have your dance; you've earned it."

"Thank you."

He couldn't really blame Dalla, he thought as he searched out Soniee Tandin in the ballroom. He wasn't feeling terribly confident about his presence on the marriage mart, and he wasn't the one being sized up like a prize mare. Dalla reacted to stress with difficulty, and this was stressful. For both of them. Not only did Kallus intend to make a match for his sister, he needed one for himself and both would be matches of the trickiest sort.

Some families married the exceptionally wealthy or exceptionally powerful. Yularens only married the exceptionally kind. It was true for his parents, and for Graf and Andressa who had gone out riding one day and come back laughing and engaged.

Alissa had been powerfully kind as well. They had met when another debutante tore her dress, and Alissa dried the girl's tears and fixed the problem with a pin before sending her on her way with a word of encouragement.

Kallus was drawn to her like a magnet and at season's end, they were wed.

And then she had laid down her life to bring their child into the world – a child who was her very image. Kallus had promised her in her last moments to raise little Hannah to the best of his ability, and he wasn't about to let his wife down.

He finally located Soniee and approached her with all the grace he possessed.

"Miss Tandin," he extended his hand. "May I have this dance?"

…

Soniee still felt like she knew very little about the gentleman, but when he placed himself, however unknowingly, between Rush Clovis and herself and began his steady approach, Dalla's eldest brother appeared as nothing more or less than a knight in shining armor. She dipped into a polite curtsey and took his hand with a smile. "I would be honored, Lord Yularen."

This is afterall what she had been waiting for all evening since every other gentleman in attendance seemed to only spare her half a glance before they found somewhere else to be. This, she had to believe, was entirely Lux's fault as it must have been he who warned them all away. So if this was to be her only opportunity to become acquainted with a prospective suitor, she was determined to make the most of it.

He was a decent dancer. Lord Yularen proved himself to be well versed in the quadrille, and an engaging conversationalist as well.

"Of course you know I am not merely courting on my own behalf," he said "My daughter is the dearest thing in the world to me."

"I expect no less from a father."

"Would you like to see a miniature?" Kallus' tone brightened significantly when talking about his daughter, and he was already pulling out the miniature to show her. The artist's rendering was a tiny baby girl with cherubic rosy cheeks and red curls.

"She…"

Before Soniee could even formulate a compliment, he continued, "I should like for you to meet her. I realize that asking you to call upon our home or for me to bring her with me to yours wouldn't quite be the proper thing, but perhaps if you and the Viscountess could come to call upon my mother and sister?" He paused for an answer.

"Well, I did enjoy conversing with your sister just now and she and Sierra, excuse me, Miss Bonteri, are already quite good friends."

"Then you should bring her along. And I will bring Hannah for a visit with her grandmother at the same time."

"I shall be looking forward to it." Soniee hoped she sounded sincere. She was wondering though if she shouldn't be staying home the following afternoon to accept her own callers, if there were to be any.

He slipped the miniature back into his pocket and took her hand once again brushing a kiss over her gloved knuckles.

Was that supposed to make her feel something? She had no experience with which to compare. "I should go and find the Viscountess and inform her of our plans."

"Of course." He bowed. "Till tomorrow then, Miss Tandin."

She curtseyed but did not head for the last known location of her aunt. She just wanted to be by herself, to think.

…

There were far too many mamas at this ball. Saw Gerrera dodged the latest with a strategic maneuver between tables. He had already been accosted by four, each duller and more vacuous than the last, and if he didn't manage a decent conversation in between he feared his brains would run out his ears. If only there was a men's area of the ballroom.

Finally he spotted an opportunity without a mama by her side. Saw checked that the coast was clear, and then hurried to stand beside Dalla Yularen.

"What are you doing alone?" He asked.

Dalla scoffed. "Gerrera, you disgust me."

"Ah, so you've discussed me." He didn't mind the slight. Dalla would never be one of his conquests, if only because he knew she had the brains to make him regret it, and as such he considered her equal to his male friends. "I was expecting to contend with an army of Yularens to speak to you. Have you fallen from grace?"

"You may be an earl now, but luckily for me my parents are more concerned with the fact you are a notorious rake. What is it, have you run out of opera singers?"

"I have to appear in society sometime. Keep up appearances."

"Of course." She grinned wickedly. "Which maiden did you plan to defile?"

"I'm still making my decision." He changed the subject. "Actually, I was hoping to speak to your brother. Where is he?"

Dalla made a disgusted sound and gestured to the dance floor with her fan. Among the guests, Alexsandr Yularen was dancing with none other than the Lily of the Living Waters.

"I wasn't expecting that match."

"Terribly unsuited, if you ask me. She may be the Lily, but you read the papers. Things like that run in families."

Saw wasn't looking at Dalla. "Yes, I think she would be more suited with someone else."

And then Dalla's breath was on his ear. "Help me break them up and I'll make the introduction."

"You wish them broken up?"

"You'll save me the trouble of having to run her out of the house."

He didn't doubt it. Dalla was the youngest sibling, but the bond between Yularens was legendary and if anyone could pull off a scheme, it was her. And he would very much like to meet the young lady the Duchess had declared to be without flaw. From a distance, it appeared she had been right.

"What is it? Have you found your countess?"

Saw shook his head. "I should hope not. If I so much as looked at her, the Rim would have me marching her down the aisle before Lady Whistledown could dip her pen in ink."

"Then you should hope Lady Whistledown didn't see you looking at her just now."

"I'm not." The music stopped and Saw returned to his senses. "Not to mention the fact I can't find her anyway. She's disappeared!"

Dalla scanned the ballroom and out of the corner of her eye, spotted Rush Clovis running down a hallway out of the ballroom. "That hallway leads to the gardens and Lord Clovis has been giving her a rather insidious eye all evening. Do we have a deal?"

He went to shake her hand but found himself cut off by a third party. Lord Sanjay Rash had neatly yet effectively placed himself between his friend's daughter and the capital R rake.

"Miss Yularen," he said. "May I have the honor of your presence on the dance floor?"

"You may." Dalla took his hand as Saw darted down the hallway where the Lily had gone.

…

At first, when he made his way out to the terrace, Saw didn't see anyone else in the vicinity. But then he heard what he knew from personal experience to be the sound of a fist hitting flesh, and a body hitting the ground and then the high pitched exclamation of a woman's voice, "Ow!"

He spun toward the sound to see none other than Miss Soniee Tandin rubbing the knuckles of her right hand with her left, and sprawled at her feet was the unconscious figure of a smartly dressed male.

"Miss Tandin, are you quite alright?" Saw said softly as he approached, his own hands raised in submission.

"Better than he is." She took a shaky breath and nudged the gentleman with the toe of her slipper.

He rolled slightly revealing his identity as Lord Rush Clovis.

"You punched him." Saw observed.

"Well, I had to do something. He tried to…"

Saw didn't force her to elaborate. "It was well done."

"Thank you." She winced rubbing at her knuckles once again.

"Are you alright?" he repeated, moving a bit closer.

"It's not that I didn't know you lot had hard heads."

"My lot?" he chuckled.

She answered with a stubborn tilt of her chin. "Men."

"All of us? We haven't even been introduced."

"I know who you are."

She kept her eye lowered as he drew still closer, giving her every chance to escape if she so desired. She was still worrying at her injured hand.

"May I see it?" He asked.

"What?" She looked up at him, blinking, her green eyes flashing in the moonlight.

"Your hand," he nodded toward the extremity. "I just want to ascertain if anything is broken."

"Oh." She held out her hand slowly and he took it gently in both of his.

She sucked in a breath but didn't cry out as he palpated the joints and then carefully loosened each finger of her glove before slipping it off completely to do a more thorough visual inspection.

"There will likely be some swelling and it will bruise but I don't think there is any permanent damage done." Saw informed her but he didn't let go of her hand. In fact he had the most incredible urge to turn it over and lift her palm to his lips. Her delicate wrist could also use some attention and…

"Thank you, Lord Gerrera, for your assessment." She did not draw her hand away.

He cleared his throat. "You're welcome, of course."

"You are a friend of my cousin, the Viscount Bonteri, I believe?"

Saw smiled then. He couldn't help himself. "Do you count your cousin among my lot?"

"What?" she asked.

"Men," he reminded her, "with hard heads."

Her perfectly arched brows narrowed and then she almost smiled before she agreed with him. "Oh, most assuredly, his is one of the hardest. Though I have not had sufficient cause to test that theory. I may do so after tonight."

"What could he have done to vex you so?"

Miss Tandin, Saw thought, was quite lovely when she was angry. He was however glad that he was not the object of her ire. She did have a decent right hook, so it seemed.

"The Viscount has taken it under his authority to frighten away every possible suitor other than the one he has deemed most advantageous for me to consider."

"Not this one?" Saw nudged the body at their feet with his own well polished boot.

"Oh no, this one was determined enough to break through his defenses, but I was warned against fortune hunters so I thought to dispatch him myself."

"Then you mean the gentleman I saw you dancing with earlier?"

She started. "I - well yes. Lux arranged for… well I mean there's nothing wrong with Lord Yularen. He was a perfect gentleman. But I don't know how I am supposed to choose to set my cap for someone if I never have the chance to compare him with anyone else."

…

He had paid attention to whom she had been dancing with. He had been watching her with those oddly intense eyes, so blue they practically glowed.

"So you would prefer to have a wider variety from which to make your matrimonial selection?" He asked.

"Don't you believe that would be the wisest course of action?"

"Oh, yes." He looked thoughtful, as if he were weighing out her problem.

"You'll pardon me for asking." She didn't really want to distract him if he could come up with a solution to her dilemma but she was curious. "My cousin has mentioned that you have no intention of marrying. Why then would you subject yourself to…" she waved her hand in the general direction of the hallway that led back to the ballroom.

Soniee would need to return there soon enough herself. Her absence was bound to be noticed.

He chuckled and she looked back up at him. "Bonteri is correct. With the ascendancy to my title it seems I must occasionally put in an appearance so that the peerage will take note of my continued existence."

His smile was infectious. "You have my deepest condolences for having to put up with all the ambitious mamas of the Rim."

"You know, Miss Tandin, I don't believe you will have any trouble at all filling your dance card with any number of eligible bachelors once they have seen one gentleman show interest."

She was sure she was blushing at the complement. "So you all just follow along with the popular opinion like sheep?"

"Hard headed sheep," he agreed.

"Well, if my cousin has convinced them all that I am practically engaged to the one gentleman who is showing interest then they may just decide not to bother." She huffed. "It rather sounds like the sort of image you… Oh."

"What?"

"You need for the mamas of the Rim to believe you have already set your intentions on one particular Miss so that they will leave you alone."

"And…" he caught on to her scheme, "you need for the eligible gentlemen to observe that you are a desirable match?"

"Something of that nature, yes."

It seemed as if he might be possibly entertaining the idea before she jumped in with her own objection.

"Oh but it could never work."

"Now why is that?"

"Because my Aunt Mina has read all about you in Whistledown, that you are a terrible, capital R rake, and she has forbidden that I should ever be seen in your presence."

He studied her serious expression for a mere moment and then burst into laughter. "You do realize that you are in my presence right now?"

She barely contained a grin. "But we have not been seen."

He took a step closer to her glancing down at the body sprawled on the floor. "And do you believe that your aunt would be safer in the knowledge that you were unobserved in the presence of a capital R rake?"

Soniee was suddenly very aware of the proximity of his presence. She held very still and moistened her dry lips. "I will have to return to the ballroom soon, before I am missed."

"Hmm." He nodded, his gaze dropping from her eyes to her mouth and then lower.

She laughed nervously. "So do we have an agreement, Lord Gerrera?"

His expression turned more business-like, of which she was glad. "Let me get this straight, your proposition is that we should appear to be courting for the purpose of your perceived desirability and my observed unavailability?"

"Exactly."

"Very well, I accept." He stepped forward again offering his hand to shake hers but his boot bumped into the prone Lord Clovis and he frowned. "It would probably be best if we weren't seen arriving back in the ballroom together after such a prolonged absence. We wouldn't want to over state our attachment at this stage in the game."

"Yes you're right. But we also shouldn't waste any time in beginning our deception." She bit her lip as she thought. "You must come and call on me at Bonteri house tomorrow."

"Will your cousin be there?" He smirked although it would be interesting to see Lux's reaction to the deployment of their endeavor.

Soniee waved a hand in dismissal. "He has his own lodgings and surely he will feel his job is done since I already danced with Lord Yularen this evening."

There was something about Lord Yularen she was forgetting just now but there was something else she had just thought of. "And you must bring flowers, expensive ones."

"As you wish, Miss Tandin." He bowed low before her and Soniee tried not to show what a thrill it gave her.

"I'll just be going then." She motioned back towards the ballroom. "Until tomorrow?"

He nodded and she only looked back once as she raced out of the garden. He was looking down at Clovis, shaking his head and smiling.

It was only when she laid her hand on the doorway to steady herself and glanced at it that she remembered the rising bruise on her knuckles and the fact that Lord Saw Gerrera, Earl of Iziz, was still in possession of her glove.