Basilisk (Dark Ominis Gaunt x OC gothic romance)

Chapter 114: Down Below

~~Marie~~

Marie waited until Damien was sat on the couch before leaning down to look at him, reaching up to gently run a hand through his hair to try and soothe him. He was so tense right now, his shoulders raised and his teeth gritted anxiously.

He relaxed a bit as she continued to run her hands through his hair, and when she rested one of her palms against his cheek he finally looked up at her with those amazingly dark eyes of his.

"I'm okay." He said softly, reaching up to place a hand over here against his cheek.

"Don't lie to me." Marie frowned unhappily. "You're not okay."

Damien looked down uneasily before he turned his eyes back to her with a sheepish smile. "You already know how to read me so well, ma chère."

Her heart fluttered a bit when he used 'ma chère' again, smiling softly. "I can, so you might as well not lie because I'll just figure it out."

He gave a deep chuckle at that, and she felt a hand come up to gently brush along her waist. She smiled at the soft touch and leaned further against him, until he was able to slide his hand around to the back of her waist. She planted her hands on the back of the couch behind him for support, blushing as she realized how close they were in that moment, the room still dimly lit from the magic torches along the walls.

"You need to tell me what's wrong, Damien." She whispered softly to him, their faces inches apart.

"It's not that easy, Mon ange. I don't want you to... feel pressured at all." He said in a strained voice.

Pressured? Pressured by what? "Just stop dancing around the subject and tell me. You said you weren't upset with Sebastian and that you didn't mean to yell... so why did you? What caused that?" She looked down into his eyes to try and figure it out, but only saw a distant pain in his gaze that made her heart clench.

He looked to her waist, his hand running gently along her curves to rest against one of her hips. "Do you... have any dreams in your life, Marie? Something you've always wanted?" He asked softly.

Marie frowned at the question, and a little part of her from before sprung up happily in response. It was scary to think that part of her old self was still there, just waiting for an opportunity to show itself. She thought she'd lost it all..

"My dream..." she said softly, thinking on it. In Hogwarts her dream has been to play on a professional quidditch team, or at the very least to help with training as a profession. But... so much had changed since her years at Hogwarts.

"When I was younger, I guess my dream would have been to play quidditch in a team." She said softly. "But... now I just want to be happy." She smiled warmly, trailing her fingers along the rough angles of his jaw and cheekbone. "I see my sister with her husband, and... I guess I wish I could have that too. It seems so out of reach for me, now... but I still want it."

The hand at her waist suddenly tugged her forward, and before she knew it strong arms were wrapped around her, a loud breath shuddering against her shoulder as Damien held her tight against him. She felt her was shaking, and now she really was starting to worry.

"Damien, what is it?" She said, resting her hands at his shoulders to soothe him. "Please, tell me."

"I want that too." He whispered in a shaky voice against her shoulder.

She froze, her eyes going wide as she looked down to him in surprise. He wanted...

"Ever since I figured out I had this magic, my life had been turned upside down. Nothing I knew as a kid makes sense anymore... I just wanted to be normal, Marie." He shook his head against her shoulder in pain. "I just want to be a normal man, with a normal family. But... I can't ever have that, now."