slide away {lorenzo berkshire}

58. somewhere only we know

"I wouldn't change a thing
Because all those things led me to
this place
And to you"
- Elizabeth Eulberg

~~~~~~

Lorenzo Berkshire

I thought it would feel different.

The Mark.

I'd expected it to burn every time I moved my arm, expected it to feel heavy, like a shackle I couldn't take off. But it didn't - not really. It was just there, like a shadow burned into my skin, as if it had always been there waiting for me.

The others had reacted exactly how I thought they would.

Theo had been the first to break the silence when I walked back into the common room that night. "Well," he'd said, eyes wide, "there are other ways to get a girl's attention, mate. Flowers. A nice dinner. Literally anything but that." He'd laughed after, but it had been forced, sharp at the edges. His eyes hadn't left my sleeve.

Draco didn't laugh at all. He just shook his head once, slowly, disbelief clear in every line of his face. "You're a bloody idiot," he'd muttered under his breath, and then looked away like he couldn't stand to see it.

Onyx had been the loudest about it, practically jumping to her feet. "Are you out of your mind?", she'd snapped, her voice echoing across the room. "Do you even know what that means for you?".

I'd tried to explain - tried to tell her why. That it was my choice, that I wasn't dragged into it. That I'd done it for Cassie, because honestly, Onyx was the only person who really understood the weight behind that.

Her anger had dimmed after that, but it didn't vanish. She'd just gone quiet, staring at me with something softer, sadder, like she'd always known I'd do something this stupid if it was for Cassie.

"Merlin's sake," Blaise had muttered from the corner, watching us. "You wouldn't do that for me."

Onyx's head had whipped around. "Are you serious right now?".

And then, of course, they'd started bickering.

They all thought it was a big deal.

But it didn't feel like that to me. In some ways, it was the easiest decision I had ever made. It should've felt like I'd just stepped off a cliff, but it didn't. It just felt... inevitable.

Cassie hadn't said much either. Just looked at me that first night like she couldn't decide whether to hit me or hug me, like she understood exactly why I'd done it but hated it all the same. She had been avoiding me. But it wasn't out of anger. It was guilt.

I'd done it for her, yeah, but not because she asked me to. She never would have. Cassie carried enough weight on her shoulders already, and now she was probably adding me to the pile.

But I didn't blame her.

I blamed him.

I'd thought there was nothing left in this world that could surprise me. Then I'd found out Mattheo Riddle was my brother.

The revelation had come like a fist to the chest - sharp, disorienting, leaving me struggling to catch my breath. I'd spent years thinking I was just... me. A son to no one, barely tethered to a family name I couldn't care less about, and suddenly I'm bound by blood to a man who betrayed the one person I-

I cut the thought off before it could finish forming.

I hated what Mattheo had done to her.

That wasn't something I could stop thinking about, no matter how much I tried to shove it down.