Venom & Virtue

chapter 65

I excused myself from the dinner table, bidding the group goodnight as I headed towards the family wing of the house.

The day had seemed to drag by as I grew more and more desperate to see Draco, my eyes drifting to the doors every now and then in the hope that he might materialise.

But finally, I'd decided the matter couldn't be delayed any longer, hurrying my feet towards the far wing of the house.

I'd asked Violetta which room was his, and as I neared the ebony wood at the end of the corridor, I felt the familiar buzz of his magic against my perception wall.

I stopped in front of it, debating whether to knock or not, eventually deciding it would be safest to do so.

After a long moment, no reply came, forcing me to turn the metal handle and push the door open gently.

The room itself was very large, the ceiling much taller than those in the guest wing; but there was the same sort of furniture within it, a lounging area centred around the fireplace whilst the bed sat upon the other wall.

It immediately struck me how neat it appeared to be, eerily pristine as if no one had ever lived in it, practically a show room.

And then my eyes caught sight of him, half hidden in the pitch black of the space, only the streams of moonlight illuminating his face as he sat on a chair, staring out through the long-paned window.

I shut the door behind me, causing his head to turn whilst I hovered, waiting.

We stared at one another, our gazes travelling across the wide space, a silent exchange as we each digested the other.

I absorbed his appearance carefully, drinking in every detail, as if I'd never set eyes upon him before.

He seemed entirely familiar, yet not, at the same time; the recognisable pale hue of his porcelain skin, sharp slant of his bone structure, cool grey of his eyes.

But something incalculable was different, a dullness in his manner, a vacancy behind his pupils as if all the life had been drawn from him.

He looked completely exhausted, seconds away from collapse.

The realisation made my heart break, a wave of sympathy rolling through me, a desperate need to comfort him before it was too late.

But I waited, my breathing erratic as I nervously pondered his reaction to my presence, fearing and hesitant.

After what felt like a decade of time, he raised a hand, twitching his fingers in a beckoning motion.

My feet padded across the floor as if I'd been pulled, magnet to magnet.

He took my hand once I neared, the cool touch relieving whilst he pulled me towards him, my legs straddling across his hips as I sat down.

His thumb pressed into the pulse of my wrist as we contemplated one another, our stares captivated, as if we were memorising every detail.

It felt like we'd been apart for years, rather than a mere ten days; so much had shifted and changed around us, unpredictable and chaotic.