Covetous

Chapter 68

Draco

It has been hard. The last few weeks, they were torture. Ella's mother had sent and urgent letter to us both explaining that the dark Lord has taken my mother prisoner. It is a threat, a way to make me hurry up. I've been trying, Merlin knows how hard I've tried, but it is ancient magic. The cabinet is broken to pieces that it's hard to recover from.

I had a little breakdown last night, coming back from the room of requirement. Ella helped me, she calmed me down. She's good at that. She's always been good at calming me down, no matter what the situation is.

The minute I had woken up, I noticed how Ella was still asleep beside me, our fingers intertwined. She looked so peaceful, a small smile played on her lips. It almost made me smile. I got up and went to the bathroom, noticing the bags I had under my eyes. I looked like a corpse, you could tell I'd lost weight and I had lost muscle mass. I looked paler than I remembered, it made me cringe to look at.

Although, I'm sure the sight of me and Ella together isn't any better. We probably look like two cadavers, slumping around the castle. Ella had lost a lot of weight due to stress, she had worked herself to the bone with research. She had three things clogging in that brain of hers; all those potions and medical treatments, werewolf's and the full moon, and the dark mark.

She was still so set on getting the dark mark removed from my forearm, but there was no use. There's no way of getting it off.

I stripped and got into the shower, letting the water hit my muscles and trickle down my body. Giving me a slight bit of warmth. My mind was racing, just imagining how my mother is locked away makes my heart swell. I swore to protect her, my father told me time and time again as I grew up that I must protect my mother. And I've failed. Both of my parents rotting in cells. Both because of the dark Lord.

Him. He was the problem. The reason my family is so dysfunctional. The reason I have this stupid fucking mark. The reason mine and Ella's lives are terrible. He's the reason Ella is so depressed. Ella is mine, I swore to myself when I first realised I had fallen in love with her that I would protect her with my life. Never let her go. But him. He had to ruin it all. And there was nothing I could do about it but obey. I had to obey by his rules, do his dirty work.

I looked down at the disgusting mark on my forearm. The way it looked so gruesome. Black ink in the shape of a skull with a serpent seeping through its mouth. It was so disgusting. My lip quivered thinking about what I've signed myself up for. To him. I closed my eyes, imagining all the pain he's put me though already, the pain my mother is in, my father. Ella. It was all because of him.

My mind manifested with images of the dark Lord killing and torturing my friends and family. Ella tied to a chair as he ripped through her mind. No.

I opened my eyes, looking back down at the mark. My nails embedded with blood on my right hand, it splashed down onto the tiled floor. Trickling down my arm and into the drain, mixing with the water. Gouge marks and scratches all around my forearm. The skin infuriated and hot. Stinging to touch. But all in all, the mark was still present, inked into my skin permanently, no way of getting it off. I felt like if my soul was ripped from my body, it would still have the dark mark embedded on it. A dark shadow that never leaves me alone, constantly following me around.

I quickly turned the shower off then wrapped a white towel around my torso, rummaging through the drawers for some of that slander cream. It wasn't here. Ella wouldn't be awake yet anyways. She never is. It's been the same process every morning for about a month. She doesn't know, but I don't want her to know. She would just worry, but Ella has enough to stress about. It's a full moon tonight.