The World and Her Stars

Chapter Forty-Two

ROSE POV

            It couldn't have been more than three hours later when I was woken up abruptly by a pain in my arm.

            Numbness. The tingling pain of when your arm falls asleep.

            The dark lord was here.

            I expected Draco to jolt awake just as I did, but he lay there still peacefully sleeping. That's when I realized.

            Only I was being summoned.

            Panic washed over me as I flung the comforter off my body and moved my aching limbs.

            "Rose...what's wrong? What are you doing?" Draco squinted his eyes to try and make me out in the dim darkness of the room.

            "Do you feel it?" I asked urgently.

            "Feel what?" he asked groggily.

            "Fuck..." I whispered in an anxious tone.

            "What's wrong? What's happening?" he pushed himself up and rubbed his face quickly.

            I stopped what I was doing and put my forearm into the light that filtered in the window. I could see his heart sink as his eyes landed on the mark on my arm as the snake slithered under my skin.

            "No." he gasped. He looked at his own arm in disbelief, "No, no, no."

            "Draco, I have to go." My voice shook as I waved my wand in front of me, dressing myself in my robes.

            "I'm coming with you." He jumped out of bed and plucked his wand off of the ground.

            "You can't. He's summoning me." I choked on my words.

            He looked around frantically before closing the space between us, "It's going to be okay. Just—just do what he says and he won't hurt you. You know that. Okay?" he pressed a few frantic kisses to my lips and my forehead.

            "Warn the others not to leave their rooms. Don't let them, okay?" I started to shake.

            He grabbed the sides of my head firmly and forced me to look into his eyes, "Don't worry about them. Just...be smart. Do what he says. Don't do anything stupid, please." He begged.

            I nodded as best as I could and kissed him one more time, "I love you."

            Before he could answer, I apparated away, landing quickly in the drawing room.

            "Ah! There she is! Rise and shine, Rosie girl!" Bellatrix's screeching voice made me jump slightly.

            "Hello, my dear, darling Rose." Voldemort sat at the table with a few others, including my father, Lucius, Dolohov, Theo with his father, and Snape.

            "Hello my lord." My bowed my head and bent at the knee slightly.

            "Please sit my child as I inform you of why I have summoned you tonight." He motioned towards my seat next to my father and I quickly took it.

            "As you all know...over the past few days, we have been extracting information from our prisoners down below." He began in his snake-like voice, "And while we have received bits and pieces...we are still left trying to decipher the maps collected from one of the rebel safe houses. The traitors collected downstairs seem to have a death wish stronger than I expected, as none of them have cracked...yet." His slit like eyes moved to me, and I stiffed into stone.