Tears wouldn't come - refused to. Adrienne clung to Aristide, burying her face in his shoulder as his arms came around her. She didn't want to say anything, because that would make it real, and real meant that time would move as it always did, too quickly for them to comprehend. Even though he asked, Adrienne could feel that he didn't need to know the answer. She wasn't a melodramatic person by nature; always quite level-headed (perhaps in an attempt to counter the dramatics that the entire Selwyn household seemed to be plagued by).

Eventually she stepped back and looked at Ari, heaving a sigh. "Uncle Trystan called me into his office just this afternoon. Cassius Lestrange has made a request for my hand." There - it was out in the open. There was no turning back.

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