Arranged {Ominis Gaunt x Sebastian Sallow x MC}

{Part 3}

Ominis Gaunt, POV.

If you had told me that learning how to be a husband or father would be this easy, I wouldn't have shied away so easily.

Following my return to Gaunt Manor, the dark urge had taken its hold of me to its fullest extent; My father had beaten it back into me, his manipulation poisoning any shred of my former self, which was now long forgotten.

I had disassociated to protect myself from this fate. Now, I reveled in it.

All I wanted to do was fulfill the contract, please my father, and do my duty to this country, and of course win the war.

I had been enrolled in a program where I would learn the ropes of being a husband, the leader of a household, and a father. All in preparation for my upcoming wedding to a girl I could barely remember now.

Testing had also been required of me—to determine my fitness to 'perform' so to speak.

I had to provide my mother with a grandchild and breed a new kind of wizard for a war that loomed on the horizon.

Following the conclusion of the emotional, physical, and spiritual aspects of the program, I was released back to my home at Gaunt Manor.

I stepped through the imposing gates, a chill wind whispering through the overgrown gardens, carrying with it the echoes of my distant past.

It had been years since I had last set foot in this place; years spent locked away in the darkness of Azkaban, my mind consumed by bitter thoughts of revenge and redemption. But now, as I stood before the crumbling façade of my ancestral home, a dark urge stirred within me, threatening to consume my resolve and surrender my will to my family.

The memories of my imprisonment weighed heavily on my shoulders, each step forward a reminder of the sins of my past and the shackles of my bloodline.

As I crossed the threshold into the dimly lit foyer, the shadows seemed to reach out to me, beckoning me deeper into the heart of darkness that had long haunted my family's legacy.

"Submit," whispered a sinister voice in the recesses of my mind, a voice as ancient and malevolent as the house itself. "Submit to the will of your ancestors, to the destiny that has been written in blood and betrayal. Embrace the path that has been laid before you, and claim your rightful place among the shadows."

A shiver ran down my spine as the dark urge took hold of me, my rational mind clouded by a primal instinct to obey; to surrender to the twisted desires of my family.

"This is your fate," the voice whispered, its words like poison seeping into my soul.

"Embrace it, and you will find power beyond imagining. Deny it, and you will be lost to the darkness forever."

And so, with a heavy heart and a weary soul, I bowed my head in silent acquiescence, my footsteps echoing through the empty halls of Gaunt Manor as I surrendered myself fully to the cruel whims of fate.

For in that moment of weakness, I knew I had become a prisoner once more, bound not by chains of iron, but by the invisible bonds of duty and obligation that tethered me to my family's legacy.

"Ominis."

My mother gasped as she laid eyes on me; a son and man she barely recognized, all grown up. An adult now.

For a moment, I was at a loss for words, my emotions swirling within me. I wanted to lash out, to blame her for the years of suffering I had endured, but beneath the anger and resentment, I felt a flicker of longing; a yearning for the comfort of my mother's embrace.