The Boy With Black Eyes

Willow Switch; Moonlight

*AUTHORS WARNING CONTINUES IN THIS CHAPTER. IF YOU CANNOT HANDLE THE GRAPHIC VIOLENCE/ DEPICTIONS OF BLOOD OR ANXIETY-INDUCING SITUATIONS (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO TORTURE, CHASE SCENES AND SITUATIONS OF DUBIOUS CONSENT), AVOID THIS ONE AS WELL. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.*

...swish-sh...

I'd disappointed him. He already had Nox in the palm of his hand, what use was she to him when he already had plans for her? The man had even met her before, sat at her dinner table when she was young, and he was nothing even close to the force he was about to become.

...swish-sh...

On the other side of the pole, holding me in my prone position, knees folded under me, arms outstretched, was Lucius, behind the silver filigree mask and dark robes, thumb rubbing over the pulse point on the inside of my right wrist. We had a pact.

...swish-sh...

I would protect Narcissa. He would protect me when I came here to be...played with. The man was the older brother I'd never had. I'd ate at his table, slept under his roof.

CRA-A-ACK

My fingers bit deep into Lucius's wrists, as the curse bit deeply into my skin, and licked me raw from my right shoulder to my spine. Only a welt. I released the pent-up breath into Lucius's knee, and relaxed the muscles I'd been encouraged to gain under his tutelage. Muscle would knit and repair easier than blood vessels and split arteries.

"Severus... Do you have a new servant for me?"

"No, my Lord. I have failed you."

CRA-A-ACK

Respect. Unadulterated respect. Commanded it. Demanded it. The Dark Lord did not knight his servants. He played with them. Like a child in a sandbox, a mad child determined to stomp on everyone else's sandcastles and throw sand at adults.

Like a cool ice-cube slipping down my spine, I felt the man violate my mind, probing harshly, caring only for his answers. Why was his eternal question. But I had built my walls high enough and strong enough that not even he could get in. My palace was impenetrable.

And I was punished for it.

CRA-A-ACK

Show me Severus. Why don't you have results? I had no choice. I let him have anything of Nox I had, putting special emphasis on the curve of her hip, the way her lips tasted, the time she moaned my name when I sucked on her collarbone. Being naked with her in the bathtub and how that sensation lit me on fire starting in my groin.

I could FEEL him smile, and retreat from my last safe vestibule. I thought I was safe, that I was good to go. I believed for the briefest of moments, that I was free. But then Lucius's thumbs went tight on my wrists as a warning.

CR-ACK

CRA-CK

CR-A-ACK

"You are my most favourite of servants, Severus..."

***********

It was impossible to apparate directly into the school, so I had to stumble up towards the looming castle through the snow, through the village, trying to ignore the feeling of blood seeping through the back of my sweater and causing it to turn crusty. The Mark throbbed half-heartily on my left wrist, a grim reminder to not fail the man again.

Nox was probably waiting for me in the Common Room, her feet curled under her on the lounge by the fireplace, in those cute little black sleeping shorts and an oversized sweater, soft slippers on her feet. She'd smile at me when I walked in, and depending on who else was in the room, she'd rush to meet me and throw her arms around me in a hug, or pat the space beside her, and together we'd brush up on Charms or Arithmancy or Runes or whatever she was working on.