March 30th, 1891 — Library, Macnair House, Cambridgeshire

Charles Macmillan had finally proposed. Her future was secure. And Valerian, Tatiana decided, was free, for she had quite made up her mind—whether based on facts or a strange loyalty to the cousin with whom she had been raised—that he would have not been happy as her husband. She needed now only to tell him.

Tatiana found her cousin in the library, the dressing gong having not yet rung for dinner. The timing, she thought, was ideal: the gong was inevitable, and would provide her a clean getaway, for while she knew that this was for the best—the best for both of them—she had read enough novels to know rejecting an offer of marriage was awkward, no matter from what corner it came.

"Valerian," she offered by way of greeting, hastening to sit so that he would feel no obligation to rise. "Mr. Macmillan has made me an offer of marriage."

She had never been much for preamble.

— Valerian Macnair —

The following 1 user Likes Tatiana Macnair's post:1 user Likes Tatiana Macnair's post
   Charles Macmillan

---

— graphics by mj ❤ —

Valerian had taken the day off of work, the events of the morning continuing to replay in his head.

He had nearly killed Charles Macmillan. It must have been a fluke—it was a fluke, as his bullet had hit Macmillan despite his aim being terribly off—yet it wasn't one of his own making, and he accepted the shot as a win. Macmillan had been less amenable to the call, but was in no position to demand they try again. He'd been bleeding from the side, and for that one split second, Valerian had wished to help him.

But he hadn't. His second had come to his side, demanded they leave, and then they were gone.

And now he was here, and so was Tatiana. Somehow he'd never assumed he would get so far. It was still Tatiana's decision as to whether she would marry him or not, but in the stipulations of their duel Macmillan had agreed to cease his pursuit of her if he'd lost. Valerian greeted Tatiana with a smile and placed his book pages-down on the arm of the table, his hands moving to his knees.

Just as quickly as the smile came, it disappeared.

"He—he what?" he asked, surprised, although not for any reason she would comprehend. Macmillan had just lost. He'd been shot, and honor dictated that he end his pursuit of her, and somehow in the past twelve hours he'd managed to propose?

(Valerian briefly wondered how he was well enough to do so, and almost—almost—felt a pang of concern.)

---

The following 4 users Like Valerian Macnair's post:4 users Like Valerian Macnair's post
   Aldous Crouch, Cassius Lestrange, Charles Macmillan, Reuben Crouch

---

Tatiana frowned; this was not the reaction she had anticipated.

"Surely this does not come as a surprise?"

— Valerian Macnair —

  

---

— graphics by mj ❤ —

For a long moment he didn’t say anything, not because there weren’t plenty or things he wanted to say but because none of them were things he wanted to say to Tatiana. Macmillan—crabby, self-righteous, and short-tempered—had chosen to add dishonorable to the list of negative traits he possessed.

And Tatiana has wanted to marry him.

“I was aware of his affections,” he said through tight lips. Aware of his obsessiveness, too, and also how he thought of Tatiana as his property—not that burdening her with those realities. She did not deserve that.

“When did he... when did this happen?” He knew the answer was sometime today, but hopefully Macmillan had had better sense than to do so in person. “Through letter?”

---

  

---

"Earlier today," she answered. "He invited me to visit his new Wellingtonshire house, and used the opportunity to propose."

— Valerian Macnair —

  

---

— graphics by mj ❤ —

Valerian’s face paled ever so slightly. “And he was... in high spirits?” he asked hesitantly.

---

  

---

Her gaze upon her cousin was one of scrutiny: there was, Tatiana knew, something she was missing. While questions would not have been out of the ordinary in such a situation, the ones that Valerian was posing were quite decidedly out of the ordinary.

"He was," she answered slowly, eyebrows raising in question. "I was not aware you were so... invested in Mr. Macmillan's spirits."

— Valerian Macnair —

  

---

— graphics by mj ❤ —

”I-I’m not,” he said, a bit too quickly—and then regretted it immediately. He’d always thought himself more graceful than this, yet the thought of Macmillan walking around with the a bullet hole in his body had him flustered and stuttering.

“I was merely... Don’t mind it,” Trying to explain would be more troubling than working through his own nerves—and besides, burdening his cousin with Macmillan’s condition was unforgivable.

---

  

---

"Valerian," she prompted.

— Valerian Macnair —

  

---

— graphics by mj ❤ —

”Tatiana,“ he replied, matching her tone and all. He wasn’t sure he’d spoken to her in such a way since he was Hogwarts-aged, and yet it was the only response he could think or that wouldn’t incriminate him or Macmillan.

---

The following 3 users Like Valerian Macnair's post:3 users Like Valerian Macnair's post
   Aldous Crouch, Amelia Evans, Charles Macmillan

---

This was not her reason for seeking him out—indeed, she had done so to turn down his (well-meaning) proposal, reassure him it was for the best, and then move on with planning her wedding. But now, her goal, which had been so clear in her mind, was obscured altogether by the knowledge that she was missing something. This certainty was only redoubled by her cousin's schoolyard retort.

Tatiana Lestrange did not like to miss anything.

"Tell me you are jealous," Tatiana said, "and I shall think you petty, but let the matter lie. But you have never struck me as the jealous type, Valerian." Nor did she think him much of a liar; she alone had truly inherited that trait from their shared maternal figure.

— Valerian Macnair —

  

---

— graphics by mj ❤ —

He was jealous—not because he wanted Tatiana, but because Tatiana thought him the inferior suitor. That, though, was not what he was stuttering on about.

“It is of no consequence, truly,” he tried, having found his ability to speak smoothly once again. “It is only - he sought me out upon hearing I had proposed, and—” Well that train of thought was no good, either.

“I don’t think he will be good for you, Tatiana,” he decided finally, “and I do not say this out of jealousy. I would rather you marry neither of us than him.”

---

The following 2 users Like Valerian Macnair's post:2 users Like Valerian Macnair's post
   Cassius Lestrange, Tatiana Macnair

---

She frowned. Tatiana supposed it was not impossible that Charles Macmillan would translate "another man" to mean her cousin, especially under the circumstances, though she had rather hoped he wouldn't. That he had confronted Valerian, however, was a horse of a different colour—an undesirable colour indeed.

"Tiberius disagrees," she said aloud, though more to herself than to her cousin. "And not marrying is not an option."

There were some women, like Elladora Black, who could be formidable indeed in spinsterdom. Tatiana lacked the hubris to think herself among that number. She had invested time into Mr. Macmillan, had grown fond of...well, of the idea of being Mrs. Macmillan. That he had confronted Valerian was hardly damning; indeed, she told herself, it spoke to his desire to have her for himself. Surely that was a good thing?

And yet, the nagging voice in the back of her mind could not help but disagree.

Unlike her own voice, the little voice would not be quiet to satisfy the whims of society.

— Valerian Macnair —

The following 1 user Likes Tatiana Macnair's post:1 user Likes Tatiana Macnair's post
   Ursula Black

---

— graphics by mj ❤ —

Of course it was Tiberius who he should have worried about, and yet he'd been the one person who Valerian had not sought out in his quest to gain Tatiana's hands. It was a strange thing; growing up alongside Tatiana it was easy to separate her from her brother, to few him as a more extended member of the family than she was, and yet he was her brother, her closest male relative.

"Which is, in part, why I asked you to marry me." Tatiana was not silly enough to think he harbored some secret affection for her, surely—at least not the sort of affection that drove a man to pursue a woman. He did care for her, though, and it was a sentiment he thought, for a pair of their station and situation, should be more than enough to justify a match. "I worry that he's not the man he's led you to believe he is. Whatever it is you think I lack, I would hope that knowing the kind of man I am would provide at least some comfort." He'd never been cruel, dishonest, unchivalrous. At times in their youth he'd acted as an older brother might, regarding her as an annoying little girl, but those days had passed. "I merely don't understand why him."

---

The following 1 user Likes Valerian Macnair's post:1 user Likes Valerian Macnair's post
   Mariana Macnair

---

"You don't lack anything, Valerian," Tatiana said—a slightly more off-handed version of one of the points she had set out to make. "Mr. Macmillan..."

Valerian would think her possessed if she claimed to love Macmillan; that sort of thing might pass as a reason for the flighty young girls of society, but no one with sense would believe Tatiana if she used that as her excuse.

"Mr. Macmillan will likely be on the Wizengamot someday," she said simply, "if not rise even higher. Am I wrong, to seek power in the only form it is allowed to women like me?"

— Valerian Macnair —

The following 3 users Like Tatiana Macnair's post:3 users Like Tatiana Macnair's post
   Ingrid Rowle, Reuben Crouch, Ursula Black

---

— graphics by mj ❤ —

He was not sure whether he should be insulted or unsurprised (or perhaps both?) by Tatiana's revelation.

"I am no politician," he conceded. If it was political power Tatiana sought he could be of no help, but there was a part of him that felt insulted that she thought the way to political power was through Charles Macmillan. "But do you not think it unwise to seek what you do from a man so unprincipled?" Macmillan would find power, sure, but not respect. "Would you wish to find yourself forced to defend the actions of an administration you disagree with solely because Macmillan would take a job under anyone willing to give him a taste of power?" Macmillan was many things—bold, sneaky, passionate, attractive—but Valerian was not sure whether calculated was a word that suited him.

"He will embarrass himself in pursuit of something bigger than himself, and you by extension." He had proven it already, challenging him to a duel solely because Valerian had sought Tatiana's hand (something, in hindsight, he wouldn't have worried so much about if he was confident Tatiana wanted him. Which she apparently did, even if, by Valerian's estimation, it was without good reason.

---

The following 4 users Like Valerian Macnair's post:4 users Like Valerian Macnair's post
   Justin Ross, Mariana Macnair, Reuben Crouch, Tatiana Macnair

---