Deliverance | Draco Malfoy

Twenty-Two

I used a levitating spell to move him to my bed, ignoring the classic iron smell of blood I could immediately whiff in the air when his presence appeared. If it was his own or someone else's, I wasn't sure. His tightly knit brows gave away his exhaustion, and the frown line between them was more chiseled than ever. I tugged his shoes from his feet and pulled his robes from his upper body as best as I could, all while he spat curses at me and pressed his hatred into me like a hot, burning iron.

"Draco," I cleared my throat to hold my composure. I was letting the tension between us control too many of my thoughts and emotions. He let out another throaty groan of pain, sounding like he was choking down the sign of weakness— a habit I was sure he had adapted years ago when he faced the same hardships I did and couldn't show weakness in front of his father.

He couldn't show weakness in front of anyone. Malfoy's show now weakness like they show no mercy. He could hardly even be vulnerable in front of me.

He smelled of heaven and Dark Magic— a combination that I was sure no one else had ever come across. The smell of death rolled from his clothes, but so did apples and mahogany. An earthy smell that let me know he had been outside recently, the wind rippling through his now messy hair and tousling his appearance.

"Draco," I tried again to get his attention despite the hatred and bitterness I could see on his face. I let one of my hands caress his cheek carefully like he would attack me if I made the slightest movement.

He was freezing against my palm. His chilling eyes barely opened with the sound of my voice, a cold sweat breaking out over his brows. He didn't say anything at first, his eyes looking so distant as he drank in the sight of me. He stared like I was really here and he wasn't imagining it any longer.

"I shouldn't have come here." He mumbled bitterly, staring across the room. I frowned and ran a shaking hand through his soft hair— you would have thought I was the one tainted by the effects of the Dark Magic from how badly I was shaking.

"I'm sorry." I whispered. The disappointment of his words was heavy on my chest. His eyes scanned his surroundings before they landed on the skin of my neck.

I froze just as he had. My eyes widened while his narrowed. My breathing turned shallow while his picked up. He was the fight and I was the flight. Two sides of the same coin.

Something dark flashed there behind his pupils that blew up in size. Something so evil, I wanted to crawl under the bed and hide from the monster before it killed me.

"I see that Montague made it back." He gave a dry laugh. He only eyed me for a moment before he looked away from me again. "What a reunion I bet that was." He clipped. "You always have been a desperate whore when he comes around. When he isn't around, too. Maybe they are right about you. You sure were willing to hook up with me when given the chance. Maybe you do sneak around-" A shiver took over his body and seized his muscles, making me wince as I watched him cut off his words with a broken cry that he tried to swallow.

"Stop it." I whispered, letting my hand run down to his jaw. His words didn't hurt me. They were just lingering anger from the magic I could sense in his bones with every touch I gave him. He was still under its gruesome control. The Draco that promised me protection wouldn't say these things, and I had put my trust in him enough to let the insults go because I knew he didn't mean them.

He snapped his eyes shut and chattered his teeth, sighing when I tugged my comforter over top of him to give him as much warmth as I could. It looked unbearably painful to endure such a tedious process so frequently. Now, I understood why Blaise had done this for me. I understood why Draco had begged and pleaded with me to never take such a Mark. Something that would be so cancerous to my already fragile body that hardly survived exhausted, battered, and bruised.