Marriage, Murder & Magic- [OMINIS GAUNT]

Chapter 18- Comfort

Ominis,

Meet me in the owlery at midnight. I have something important to tell you. I'll be bringing Natty along as well.

Destroy this message.

Sincerely,

Prisma St. Cloud

It was a chilly October night; the kind that somehow chilled you down to your undergarments. The kind of cold that killed trees and turned them bleeding red. Natty and I were bundled up in wool cloaks at the top of the owlery waiting for Ominis to arrive, pacing, and casting warming spells.

"Asking Ominis to meet you here was risky," Natty said to me. "Will a blind man even trek all the way out here in the middle of the night?"

"I don't know. But it's time for me to tell him about Morgana." It would not be easy to inform Ominis that Morgana was actually not pure or faithful. Ominis had claimed to have taken her maidenhood, which was just one of her lies. She may have just been after an advantageous marriage.

Then why had she changed her mind that night about marrying him? I wondered. There was still more to the mystery to figure out. It confounded my mind. It was the hardest riddle I'd have to solve.

"Can Ominis even read letters?" Natty asked.

I thought for a moment. I was fairly certain I'd seen Ominis read letters- or, had Sebastian read them to him? "Oh, dear."

A loud snarling sound came from the wilderness below the tower. "A dark mongrel." Natty took out her wand. "I'll take care of it."

"Are you sure?" I didn't want to be left here alone, in case Ominis showed up and we were caught alone together. Natty was here as a chaperone.

"I'll make quick work of it," Natty assured me, and left. Gryffindors couldn't go ten minutes without excitement, could they?

I waited nervously in the dim owlery for Natty to take care of the mongrel below. If it even was a mongrel at all. A dark thought creeped in, suggesting that perhaps the killer had followed us out here. The mongrel was a diversion.

The longer I spent waiting, the more certain I became that Natty was being slaughtered by the killer just outside. Fear grew within me like devil's snare, wrapping around my stomach until it was heavy as lead.

Someone tapped on my shoulder.

"Ah!" I whipped around, wand ready, discovering it was only Ominis, dressed in a black and gold suit with a silky cloak around his neck.

"You sure scare easily," he grumbled. "What are you doing all alone? Where's Miss Onai?"

I let go of a breath. "She'll be back soon. I hope. You didn't see her-?" I paused. No, of course he didn't see her. "I need to tell you something important, Ominis."

"I know. I got your letter." His eyes narrowed. "Be careful. If you send me too many, people take notice, and that's how rumors are born."

So now I couldn't even send owls to my male friends. It was ridiculous how much people assume when a man and a woman simply spend time together.

I wrung my hands together nervously and said, "Well, sometimes, rumors are... true. That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about," I began nervously. "You see, I spoke with Andrew Larson and Leander Prewett."

"Those rakes?" Ominis hissed. "Why on earth would you waste your time with them?"

"I'm investigating Morgana's death," I told him. "I needed to find out who would have the motive to want her dead."

Ominis tensed at the mention of Morgana. He had not been taking her death well. I would have involved him in the investigation already, but he had been giving off this mood lately that he really just wanted to be alone. "Andrew and Leander may have killed Morgana?" he asked.

"Well, no. They both have alibis. But they told me some things about her that I... Well, I wanted to discuss it with you in private."

"What is it, Prisma?" His voice cracked. I could tell that a part of him already knew where this was going.

"Morgana was likely not a maiden," I said to him. "She was involved with different men- Andrew Larson, Leander Prewett, and probably more. And she was blackmailing them into keeping it a secret."

"What?" Ominis stumbled. It was as though my words had stabbed him right through the gut. "Lies. They're lying."

His hand shot out, trying to find a wall, or some kind of stability. I took his hand. To my surprise, he didn't shake me off, and instead gripped me harder.

"I'm as surprised as you," I said to the distraught man. "I had no idea."

In the dim red light, I saw Ominis's cheeks glisten with tears. Through gritted teeth, he said, "She hid this from me.... Made me believe I was her first, and her only- If I had married her, would she have ever told me the truth? Or did she expect to keep me in the dark? Blind Ominis Gaunt, the fool?"

"You're not a fool, Ominis. You're not."

It felt as though he was moments away from completely breaking. Nothing made sense anymore. Everything stopped making sense when Morgana had gotten her head chopped off, leaving Ominis and I to grieve someone we didn't even know.

So I reached out to Ominis, wrapped my arms around the shoulders of his silky cloak, and held the trembling boy as we both cried.

"What are you doing?" Ominis demanded, resisting slightly.

"Let me hug you, dammit." I weeped. "I don't care if it's not allowed. I need it. You need it."

Finally, he gave in. Ominis- tall, bony, barely any meat on him at all- hugged me so tightly it was as though I was the only thing still keeping him standing.

"I don't know if I ever knew her," Ominis said, his forehead buried in my shoulder. "I thought Morgana was it. That she was as good as it would get for me. Maybe that's true."

I tried to quiet him with a gentle hand on his back. "Shh. Stop saying that."

It was then that I heard the sounds of Natty climbing the steps. It would be awkward explaining to her why Ominis and I were hugging; but I was sure she would understand.

"What exactly is going on here?"

It was a deep voice; a man's voice. My entire body froze.

Professor Sharp, the tall, dark potions master stood in the entryway to the owlery, looking very grim, and very upset.

My stomach sank. This was a mistake that was not easily undone. 

Author's note:

ohhh noooo! Another wrinkle in the mystery! Prisma and Ominis have been caught in a scandal- how will they explain their way out of this?