25 June 1892 — The Selwyn Estate; Wales

This would be too big to reveal to Aristide right before the Portsmouth ball, but how was she supposed to keep such a secret in that long for Aristide? He would certainly detect something was off about her, and then he would confront her and she would have time to tell him all while Olympe was getting her ready. She couldn't entertain the possibility of not attending the ball either, given that she had helped Florence with it and knew the other debutante was counting on her to attend in support. Merde. She didn't blame Uncle Trystan for telling her this, but it had thrown her off more than she cared to admit. They were supposed to have more time than this. It was only the end of June, for Merlin's sake, they had only just debuted! Which of course meant that she was ripe for the picking.

Her nose curling in disgust at the patriarchal voice in her head, Adrienne stalked down the hallway, the basket in hand as she prepared to apparate to the part of the estate where Ari said he would meet her. Just as she was about to twist on the spot, a thought popped in her head, and Adrienne stowed her wand away, tucking her basket in the crook of her arm and making her way down to the stables.

Without a word to the startled stable hand, the witch seized the reins of a freshly saddled horse (likely one of her cousins was about to go riding) and walked out of the covering. The horse nickered, its ears flicking towards her and then back as if it sensed the tenseness rolling off her in waves. Throwing the reins over the horse's head, Adrienne approached the mounting stand and swung a leg over the horse, basket still in the crook of her arm. With a click of her mouth and a kick of her heel, the horse took off.

The place where she and Ari were meeting for an afternoon tea was nearby, but not near enough for Adrienne to justify walking, as much as that might do her some good. The wind whipping through her hair, certainly would make Olympe's work that much harder in preparation for the ball, but if her maid had blabbed to her Uncle, she hardly cared about such obstacles for the woman. Her annoyance chewed at her heels as she rode, knowing that the end was nearer than she thought, that she would only have so much time to spend with her twin before she was to turn back and never call this place home again. As she made her way around a bend, she spotted Ari's figure in the distance. It should have made her angry to know that she wouldn't be able to see him as often as she did, and yet a sense of calm washed over her as she approached, noting the relaxed stance in her twin's posture. A smile tugged at her lips as she slowed to a trot, then a walk. "Apologies for being late," She called out, slightly out of breath from the unexpected exercise.

---

  

---

The best thing about being an adult is that he could pick and choose where he wanted to go. He could decide whether or not he was in the mood to be around people or not. Most times he went to events just to serve as a pseudo chaperone for his sister or to see friends who were more active on the social scene. Sometimes an event truly did sound interesting to him.

Aristide was waiting for Adrienne, his horse with him for company in the meantime. Aristide had felt the horse might be feeling bored so had taken him out for a short trot. He was feeding the horse an apple, stroking the stallions mane when his sister arrived on horseback. "You need not have rushed," he said, eyeing his sister as he sensed something was off.

  

---

italics means Aristide is speaking French

set by MJ!

Little did Ari know there was more than enough reason for her to rush now. The desperation she felt back in Uncle's study had waned, and in its place a melancholy weight. Dismounting was a bit more difficult in skirts, but she managed to get on the ground steadily. Knowing the horse would remain there — potentially meandering over to her companion — Adrienne approached Ari, with no other motivation than to throw her arms around him in an embrace.

She needed him, knew that the news she came bearing would begin to make the foundation under them crumble. Adrienne wasn't ready for it, knew Ari wouldn't be either, and so she buried her face in his shoulder, saying nothing for as long as she could. To hold this off as long as she could. Just for a minute longer.

---

  

---

Aristide readily wrapped his sister up tight in his arms. He was alarmed, knowing something was wrong. He always knew when something had Adrienne terribly upset and it was the same for her when it came to him.

"What has happened?" He wanted to know so he could comfort her but he also had a sort of feeling. If that was the case, he also did not want to know. They were supposed to have more time than this.

  

---

italics means Aristide is speaking French

set by MJ!

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.

---

  

---

Aristide waited it out as Adrienne continued to stay silent. He listened as she spoke, his face paling and as aghast as it might have been had she declared she was dying from some terrible disease. Cassius Lestrange. He was not familiar with Cassius Lestrange beyond him being a Quidditch player and what Adrienne had chosen to share about him. When he spoke, it was in their native tongue because his brain couldn't switch to English in his distress. "So soon? We have not had enough time to be graduates together and already he is taking you away."

  

---

italics means Aristide is speaking French

set by MJ!

All she could do was nod vigorously as fresh tears flooded her eyes. She was grateful to hear the fluid tones of their mother tongue in his response as opposed to the cursed, rounded English language. "I had no choice but to accept, Ari," She responded, hand coming up to brush the tears away as she prepared to reveal the second piece of information she'd just been given.

She wasn't sure which one was going to shock him more. But perhaps, once Ari knew what she knew, he would understand that she had to say yes. Not only for herself but for him as well. "He is a good man and has been nothing but kind to me, and he's offering us security. I had to say yes."

---

  

---

No choice? Aristide didn't know why she would think that she had no choice in things. She was a damn delight and any man should consider himself lucky to be able to marry her. As far as he was concerned, she could afford to wait until a marriage proposal she didn't look so aghast about came along.

"We're Selwyns, what other security does he offer that our own name does not already provide?"  Aristide asked in confusion. But is he good enough for you?" Though, frankly speaking, no one would probably ever really measure up as 'worthy' of his twin in Aris eyes.

  

---

italics means Aristide is speaking French

set by MJ!

Here came the hard part. They were Selwyns more than they had known, more connected to the family they lived with. All the cousins they had grown up with were closer in blood to them than they had originally thought. "That is precisely why we need the protection of the Lestranges." She got out, feeling her voice hitch in her throat. She felt the stress of the entire day bear down on her, wanted nothing more than to take Ari and leave. But where would they go? Their family was here and they each had their roles to play.

She couldn't just come right out and say it: Uncle Trystan is our father. The words wouldn't form themselves in either language she spoke, so she clung to his second question instead. "Yes, he — he's good enough for me." Because of his family name, because of the power they held in society. She wasn't going to be married to the first son, but there had to be a reason why the Lestranges were so prominent in Wizarding Society. They didn't survive for this long without wielding some significant influence.

"But Ari, there's more. There's more to this than just the fact that I need to protect you —" Because if it weren't for this new information, she would just be doing this for Ari in case his secret got out. "Uncle Trystan," (Because she couldn't bring herself to say the truth just yet. Let it drag out for the next few seconds.) "He warned me that this might be my only opportunity to secure a match like this."

---

  

---

Adrienne was not making any sense and Aristide briefly wondered if the news had shocked the sense right out of her. Why should they be relying on outside sources when they had their own, strong family?

Aristide looked skeptical even as Adrienne said he was good enough for him. Honestly, she could have revealed that the man she was marrying was secretly Merlin reincarnated, a saint, a god even and he still likely would have scoffed at their lack of worth for her hand. As it was, Cassius Lestrange was handsome enough, he supposed. He had that Lestrange dark hair and blue eyes. Broody... Well, fine. Aristide could see the appeal in him from a physical standpoint but even so. Looks weren't everything and he knew next to nothing about the man beyond that.

"Protect me? You need not have considered that a factor," he said, his brow furrowing in further confusion the more his twin spoke. "There is more to it than that. What are you not telling me?"

  

---

italics means Aristide is speaking French

set by MJ!

She could see how he wasn't following her — how could he have, when he didn't know the full story? Of course she needed to protect him. To protect him was to protect herself; if anything happened to Ari, Adrienne wouldn't have been able to live with herself, and she knew it was the same for him. As usual, he saw straight through her, though she had never been able to put up much of a wall for Ari. It had never felt natural, and there was never much that she felt the need to hide from him. She certainly didn't intend to start now, but oh how she wished she would be able to.

"Uncle Trystan told me that he didn't think I would receive many opportunities — that he wanted me to consider this because he didn't want me to have as hard a time as Liliana did." She hoped that Ari would catch on, that he might be in a better state of mind than she had; of course she'd just delivered the exact same information their....uncle had just told her - the abridged version.

---

  

---

"Liliana had a hard time because she was Uncle Trystan's bastard," Aristide said in thought, his gears turning. Adrienne's distress, her insistence that this was something she felt she had to accept before it was too late.. "Are we more closely related to Liliana than we even realized?" He didn't know why his mind was affixing to Liliana than it was to Uncle Trystan. He supposed because it just felt so ludicrous given how every different they both were from her.

  

---

italics means Aristide is speaking French

set by MJ!

Adrienne affixed her gaze on her twin. She could see his mind whirling. While not an impatient person, she found herself frustrated that it was taking him so long to come to the same conclusion she did. It was unfair, of course, but her impatience hardly considered that a reason to give him more time. And even though it had only been the span of a few seconds, it seemed like a lifetime when he finally asked her the right question.

Despite how ready she had been to burst out the answer, she simply nodded silently, her lips pursed.

---

  

---

Aristide slumped down to sit on a nearby boulder, his horse nuzzling into his hair as if sensing his distress. "Is Uncle Trystan worried it will come out somehow?" It felt so foreign that the man they called uncle was actually their father. He supposed it made sense if one really thought about it. The family reputation would be tanked, they would be branded as bastards like Liliana. He knew from watching Liliana that such a life was far from easy, even when acknowledged and taken in by ones father.

  

---

italics means Aristide is speaking French

set by MJ!

"There's always the potential it might, isn't there?" She countered as her own horse snuffled at her shoulder. She could feel the tears building again. She'd always thought that the worst feeling in the world would have been facing the reality of leaving Aristide, not the fact that she would be leaving behind a newly discovered father in addition to Aristide. It sat heavy in her chest, leading her to eventually sink down on the forest floor in front of Aristide, her skirts pooling around her in an imperfect circle. Small jabs of pain needled their way into her shins, twigs and dry leaves crackling beneath her. She paid none of that any mind.

"I had to take the opportunity, Ari." She murmured, eyes on his shoes now. She didn't want to admit she was fearful at what she might find in her twin's expression. What if she'd made a mistake in telling their father yes? He likely wouldn't have sent off the letter yet, but she didn't like the idea of waiting any longer, or the idea of going back on her word.

---

  

---

He nodded in agreement as she spoke about there always being the potential there. He watched as his twin sank down onto the forest floor, her skirts pooling around her.

"I trust your judgement," Aristide said after a moment. "If this is what you think protects us best."

  

---

italics means Aristide is speaking French

set by MJ!