like a storm

it didn’t matter that the figure was a person, a girl. young enough to still be considered someone’s child. of course, why would that matter when they were accused of doing terrible things. cavorting with the darkest things in the night. there was no proof.  nothing out side of belief tinge in vindictiveness. jealousy. envy. even for a a child that had just barely begun to bleed, she was beautiful. hair of midnight. skin golden with eyes that glimmered like the finest gems. that wasn’t one would be able to see beneath the darkened bruising. drying blood beneath her nose and clinging to her torn lips. 

it was said she was a betrayer. someone who wished ill to the town. would seduce and pull the men from their intendeds and lead them astray. for what purpose? they could rightly say, but they knew a darkness lurked in her. her own parents didn’t stand in the villages way. allowed them to tear her away, beat her and throw her into a dark night of solitude before they were to make a spectacle of her. a poor girl who could do nothing but quietly cry and she molded herself into something small. something that could hide in the shadows of the room she was in. 

her wrists bruised and nearly bleeding from trying to get her bindings off of her body. too tired now to try any longer. only, tears that were nearly silent would be the only sign of life if not for her ragged breathing. 

that’s how Wrath found her. he had been watching for days. seeing how Envy had been toying with the people of the village. curious of what would happen. what their choice would be. on one hand, he found it to be a rousing success. his sibling had certainly proven a point. shown their creator that when given a choice, their darker tendencies reign. but it left Wrath thinking deeper. 

what would the girl do if given her own choice?

it was a tantalizing thought. one he was willing to test to see what happened. if it ruined his sibling’s plan, well that was a bonus. this is the reason Wrath stood in the darkest shadows of the tent the girl was being held. his presence hidden by his own doing. keeping her from feeling his eyes on her. he loomed without making any movement. she was broken, bleeding, and would be dragged out to die when the sun rose. but she had a chance if she was willing to take it. 

“look what they’ve done to you,” he finally spoke. his voice a low rasp, as it caressed the shadows and reached her ears. her surprise was expected, her fear even more so. her eyes searching frantically to find the source of the voice in the dark. “they’ve no proof of what they accuse you of and still, you are here. alone. bleeding.” 

it seemed she was able to focus on the direction as her eyes locked onto the shadows he was within. he still had not moved forward, knowing his visage caused terror at the mere sight of it. “what would you do to be free?” he allowed the question to hang in the air. let her eye that wasn’t closed due to be swollen widen at the question. he said nothing while she seemed to think it over. it was a heavy question. one that deserved careful thought. but not too much, she didn’t have the time. 

“what would you ask of me?” finally left her lips, spilling shakily into the air as she tried to make sense of who was offering such a thing to her. 

Wrath took a step, allowing the moonlight to hit him slightly, revealing the edges of the maw upon him. teeth viciously gleaming with dark blood in the silver light. “i would ask a deal,” he began before taking another step. even more light streamed upon him. it was plain to see that he was a figure of nightmares. dark and twisted. “a trade. i give you the power to free yourself and do what you wish.” his words were soft, slow as they danced across the shadows. she could do little to hide the terror in her eyes upon seeing him in more light. 

“in return, i ask for your eternity,” he took another step forward, knowing she would be able to see the serpentine features of his eyes. how the seemed to burn with a fire that did not warm. “until your death, i will ask for nothing and will provide the power for you to do what you will.” there was a pause as he let his words sink in. watching how she seemed to look about. worried there was more than just him. “upon your death, your soul... will be mine.” 

again, silence returned as she thought of what she was going to do. he stood, continuing to loom in the darkness, his figure now fully illuminated by the moonlight. time passed while he waited. Wrath nearly thought she was going to deny him after such a long silence. until, she tried to move to stand. her struggle would have saddened any mortal as she swayed on her legs. he did nothing to assist her. it was a choice of her own. 

“yes,” she finally whispered out. pain lacing her words. but it did nothing to stop his slow nod of acceptance, reaching out his claw like hand to her as he closed the distance between them. allowing her to reach for him. shakily, she laid her smaller palm in his hand, fear lacing her scent as he leaned forward with the teeth that would surly haunt her dreams before he took his free hand and tilted her chin upward to fully face him. only then, did he place a chaste kiss on her lips. the her blood and some of his own for how his fangs tore into his skin mixed assisting with a seal of his own making. 

pulling away from her, he kept his claw under her chin, so her eyes stayed with his. “than power and freedom, you shall have,” he breathed over her skin. savoring the taste of her blood on his tongue, as he pushed magic through from the shadows into her skin. allowing it to flow from himself and into her. slowly her wounds healed. her skin stitching itself back together. a small favor he allowed to occur with the exchange. 

it was only a few beats of her heart before he began to pull away, her body as good as new. almost as if she hadn’t been beaten by those she once trusted with her life. moved the claw from under her chin to caress her face softly. “a gift,” he murmured gently, as he completely pulled away. 

there she stood. a power flowing beneath her skin that had did not have before. he could trace it’s way in her blood. he wondered would it would look like if she had children. if she ever did. her future was her own. it was the end that would be his. “for everything you do, there is a price. something as small as a drop of blood to as large as a life for a life. it is yours to use and pay the price for.” 

Wrath made his way back into the shadows. “wait!” she called quickly, stepping towards him as she tried to stop him. only pausing when she went to reach for his dark robe. her hand hung in the air, hesitating when he looked to her again. “who are you?” a part of him appreciated her question. how it wasn’t a what are you. “or, i mean, what should i call you?” 

there was power in names. he would not simply give his out, but perhaps.. there was another option. “what would you wish to call me?” he offered without hesitation. 

taking a moment, she seemed to think it over before softly whispering, “Satan.”

 that, would do. he did oppose many a thing, it seemed fitting. “than so i shall be.” he nodded in her direction before turning away once again. he didn’t see how reverently she looked upon his back. “you may call upon me again... for a price,” was his last words before disappearing completely into the darkness. leaving no trace of him behind. outside of what he left with her. 

Satan would watch as she claimed vengeance on those who had accused her. but showed surprising control when it came to the others. it had not occurred to him that she would spread word of the deal they had made. that the name she gave him would be whispered in shadows under moons and surrounded by darkness for others to make such a deal. it wasn’t always power they wished to get from him, but more often the freedom to live in any way they choose. men and women alike or, over time, those that did not fit into any category. 

Riley handed the black ballpoint pen back to the man seated across from her at the table, and exchanged the forms with him as he gave her back her ID. When Mika had started talking about this secret world he was apart of, gosh at least a few months ago, Riley had tried not to blush too hard while also hanging on every word. She knew this kind of thing existed, plenty of girls in college talked about how they had people tie them up in bed before, but she had never experienced it. It was too out of her comfort zone, too obscure. Except as Mika began to talk to her more about this world, explain the psychology behind it, Riley had grown more and more intrigued. Until finally agreeing to attend a BDSM Dungeon with an open mind. 

So far, everything seemed incredibly professional. The gathering of the information, the tour of the Dungeon and the rules that were set in place for everyone’s safety. The lack of alcohol was one that surprised her the most, but considering how it blurs the lines when it comes to consent, she completely understood why. The dress code, though, or well the outfit Mika had shoved her into for the night was definitely not in her comfort zone. She wore dresses yes, and sometimes they showed a little skin. But this faux leather, or latex or whatever it was, made her feel like she was someone new. 

Because Riley Fitzherbert would never wear this out in public.

Once all the information was given out, the payment paid, and the forms were signed, Riley and Mika were allowed into The Abyss. The blonde had lived in this city for years and never would’ve guessed a place like this existed. She tried to control her facial expressions as the two began to walk throughout the club. The social area was probably where she felt less tense, mostly because just talking with people was easy. Granted the subject of conversation wasn’t one she was super well versed in, but it wasn’t hard to nod your head at the right times or laugh along with others. But as they began to explore the different rooms, stumble upon different scenes, she began to feel very, very out of place.

The first room they walked in, a man was bound by his wrists and ankles on a table, wearing nothing but his underwear, while a woman ran her fingers along his body, causing him to laugh out loud. Had the twenty seven year old expected that to be the first scene they stumbled upon tonight? No, definitely not. The two only stayed to watch for a few minutes before moving into a new room, where a woman was naked and bound in numerous ropes. They were tight across her body and her skin was red and swollen where it was exposed. While the knot and rope work was interesting, Riley couldn’t stomach it for very long before asking Mika if they could move on. It just looked too painful, and while she knew it was all consensual and safe, she still found her stomach flipping over at the image.

They had passed between a few rooms, numerous ones causing Riley to either blush or overt her gay, before coming upon one  with a number of people gather and speaking in hushed voices. It seemed the scene hadn’t begun yet, as the man leading it has his back towards the crowd and was preparing for whatever it was he planned on doing. “There’s a lot of people in here.” Riley murmured to Mika, noting this was probably the most crowded room they’d been in tonight. Which definitely piqued her interest.

“Nyx, the man over there,” Mika pointed the man who still had yet to turn this way. He was pulling things out of a bag but there were too many people in front of her that Riley couldn’t fully tell what. “He’s very popular here. A lot of regulars will come if they find out he’s performing a scene.” Riley opened her mouth to ask what is was that he normally did, when the crowd grew quiet and he turned around, motioning to a woman Riley hadn’t noticed earlier. Must be his scene partner. 

The man was very attractive, and the way he held himself made Riley want his approval. She didn’t even know him but she just, just wanted to do what she could to please him. She was a people pleaser by heart, so that feeling wasn’t all that new for her, but how quickly she had felt it is what made her pause. For a second she wondered if maybe she should excuse herself to get a glass of water, but people around her were already enthralled, buzzing with interest and excitement, so she decided to stay and watch. Besides, she really wanted to know what it was that he was going to do.

⚜ ⚜ ⚜ ⚜

his day always began the same. him waking to a world that provided a slight annoyance. be it the sun or the fact that he had slept so little. why he was annoyed didn’t always matter. simply that he was. still, Luca went about his normal business. taking care of his breakfast. a coffee, black with the barest hint of nutella to add a little flavor but not too much sweetness. his bare feet taking him through the house. cold wood floors causing a chill to roll up his spine, it was how he preferred it.

two cats followed behind him, relatively quiet. they were well aware of the fact that breakfast came after his had his coffee. a routine strangely easy to find himself in with his two furry shadows. one black. one gray. both worse for wear. he then would finish the chapter he was working on for his next book. a dark thriller. spine tingling horror. something to make people think he was a devil worshipper again.

he would move through his quiet home. before running errands and taking care of whatever else he had for the day. in truth, he enjoyed slow times. when he was young, he thrived in chaos. looked for it. if he couldn’t find it, Luca was always willing to create it. as time went by, things changed for him. he knew, it was because he walked into a certain type of life. his curiosity and the urge to have anything that was different then what he usually had. it had been so strong he was willing to kneel for it.

all it took was the right pressure of pain and his path was given to him. it was almost like he didn’t have to look. scars on his body proved how far he was willing to push to feel the rush he enjoyed. but, his hands were steady. he loved when marks were left. he was, however, careful with the flesh of others. cruel in the ways they wanted. gentle when he was finished making them cry.

that need. that hunger was what had him as a frequent performer for The Abyss. a club that catered to his particular preference. was it really too much to ask to be able to lick the tears up while they sobbed? he didn’t think so. Luca walked a very thin line. sadism was tricky. you could enjoy someone’s pain but shouldn’t allow yourself to be lost in it. comfort. love them for what they were. what they gave. they were all human and consenting after all.

his assistant confirmed the girl’s play name allowed, for the crowd to hear. Jade. from her paper work she had filled out she seemed a lovely girl that delighted in being hurt. restrained. edged to something near insanity. yes, he was in the mood for that. but he wasn’t certain he was in the mood to satisfy her. his outfit was simple. black on black. his tattoos clear on his arms as he quietly stepped out onto the stage. motioning for his partner to follow. her clothing was less. nothing but a black satin robe. barely covering anything. of course.

her neck was collarless, empty. made the beast in him purr in satisfaction. how easy it would be to wrap his around around her throat. but he was slow. allowing quiet to reign in the room after his new little pet was introduced. him, reaching for a pair of gloves, black like everything else as he slowly slid them onto his hands with a practiced ease. “i’ve heard of you, Jade,” he said lowly. his voice at a soft talking level, he would not raise it. forcing the crowd to remain quiet to hear him. hold their breaths.

“you played with one of the other masters, just days ago. didn’t?” he questioned softly, waiting for a verbal answer. his dark eyes looking across the little stage to stare at her squarely. he waited another beat of his heart before tilting his head slightly. “i expect verbal answers,” he stated while he stalked towards. there was no rush.

“yes, sir.” finally reached him. almost as if she had to cough and force it out. nervous, darling? “were those masters not good enough for? did they not satisfy you, pet?” her hesitance was too long, his gloved hand reaching outward to grasp her jaw in a grip that was meant to be painful. tilting her eyes upward to look at him.

“i wanted you, sir.” her words had something cruel twisting the corner of his lips. of course she did. of course. “you wanted to be my little whore?” he questioned, but not really. they both knew the truth. sliding his gloved hand from her jaw, he traced the soft skin of her neck before moving downward. whatever she said was muffled. whispered. that wouldn’t do. their audience couldn’t hear that.

“speak up,” he nearly growled out. “yes, sir.” was rushed out as he nodded his head. almost as if that was the most acceptable answer. simply, of course she did.

Nyx hmm’d softly, allowing it to be loud enough that it could be hear. knowing full well someone could probably hear the girl’s heart beating if they were listening close enough. “problem is Jade,” he began, allowing his hand to drop lower and grasp the tie of the robe, “i am not very sure i want you.” he admitted without a care in the world. pulling the tie open, revealing her lack of clothing underneath. oh, she really had been ready for him, hadn’t she?

“i just don’t know if you are what i want.” he continued while he circled her. pulling the robe off completely. tossing it to the side. leaving her barely bruised skin to shine under the light. oh, how gentle her other master’s must have been. “but i want to believe you can be.” was almost a whisper, like it was meant to be a secret between the two of them. the whole room could hear.

“can you be a good girl for me?” as he circled his way around her to her face once more. moving his body so achingly close she had to tell her head back to look into his eyes. a whimpered , “yes,” squeezed through her lips and it pleased him. “can you be my good little kitten?”

Riley silently thanked her husband as he found his way in front of her, guarding her and giving her enough time to handle her wound. The spell wouldn’t be an end all, but it would help subdue the pain and speed up the healing process. Once they were home, she’d have to still tend to the wound, but right now it was enough to keep her going. To block off any spells that might be sent her way or towards Luca’s back, as she was sure there was plenty of Death Eater who would like to tell the Dark Lord that they ended the betrayer. She wouldn’t let that happen though, not when he was risking everything right now. She was going to make sure Luca saw through the end of this war, to spend the next fifty years getting to know his children and eventual grandchildren, no matter what.

She was getting her bearings back, taking in the people around her for any sign of who was winning and who was losing. Of how many had fallen and if they meant anything to her. It was when she saw Sirius and Harry, so close to the arch that made a deep unease settle in her stomach. What was beyond the other side of it, she wasn’t sure. But Riley had no intent to find out. As she watched a spell hit Sirius, the force sending him back towards the opening of the archway, its whispering words growing louder, she reached forward for him, grabbing an outstretched hand to keep him from falling further, into the arch. Her stomach told her it was only coldness that would greet him on the other side. Once he was on the ground, looking up at her and murmuring words of thanks, Riley turned round towards his cousin who was the caster of the original spell. Who most likely knew what sending Sirius through the archway would do. She mustered up enough anger to send a curse her way, and while Riley saw it merge with one of her husbands own spells, she knew immediately there was no coming back from it.

Suddenly the remaining Death Eaters began to retreat, falling away in collections of dark smoke. Riley was able to find the familiar faces of her extended family, see the realization come to them as she stood by her husbands side. Before she could even run towards her brothers and cousins in a greeting, Luca’s warning towards Harry Potter had her stomach dropping. “Go.” She begged her family, before grasping Luca’s arm as he did the same to her, and let him apparate them away. There was no doubt of where they’d be going.

When the cabin that she had called home for the past decade came into view, Riley let out a quiet sob of relief. They had made it. All of them. She turned to look at Luca, she kissed him deeply, before heading straight into their home in search of the kids. “It’s us!” She called out as she opened the door, sighing when the three most beautiful faces crept out from behind closed doors. “Oh my babies.” She murmured as she held her arms out and all three ran towards her. Katerina was the one who grabbed her first, the twins wrapping around them. “You all did so good.” She murmured, looking out the doorframe to watch as Luca burned that cloak. He shed himself of it all, and she placed a kiss on top of Katerina’s head as she took in the statement her husband was making. It was a sight to behold, and brought tears to her eyes.

“Let me look at all of you.” She murmured as she untangled herself from her kids, noting that neither Kat or Niko had more then a few scratches on them. Elijah had was looked like a potential wrist fracture, potentially from being tossed around so violently by the Death Eater who had been holding him in The Department of Mysteries, or it could have been from his crash landing after Luca’s spell sent said Death Eater flying. Regardless. “You’ll be fine.” She told him, already standing up to go towards the herbs, flowers and roots she had littered along the walls to brew into a tea to help numb the pain while the bone setting spell went to work. But before she could, Luca’s words caught her ear. 

How, how had she forgotten the mark? How had she thought they had made it through this seemingly unharmed. But they hadn’t. Riley had been unable to find any charms, spells or potions to reverse the effects of the mark. Nothing to remove it, or it’s hold over Luca. Which meant one thing. The one thing she had been trying to avoid thinking of. “No.” She muttered, only to herself. She wasn’t arguing with Luca, she had just hoped it wouldn’t come to this.

She wanted to fight, to say there had to be something they could find. But she knew her husband was right. There wasn’t enough time, and sometime soon Voldemort would realize that he had been betrayed by Luca, that Bellatrix was dead. Riley saw the look in his eyes, the commitment. He knew this was the only option, and he was going to do it. So she walked over to him, looked at the mark that had practically burned her skin the first time her fingers raked the forearm after he received it, and nodded. 

“Elias give me your belt.” Riley commanded, her face stern and her words quick. “Go sit next to your father and hold his other hand.” Maybe Luca wouldn’t need someone to calm him down, but she knew if this was her, the comfort of her children beside her would definitely make it all the easier. “Katerina, get me towels, a bowl of hot water and some alcohol.” Riley took the belt from Elijah and sit it over Luca’s arm, letting it rest right above the elbow and pulling it tight to help with any blood loss after she made the cut. “Nikoletta, join your brother.” Taking the bowl of water and towels from Katerina, she gave her husband the alcohol incase he wanted to take a swig before they continued, and she also gave him a spare towel. “If you need to bite down.”

Moving Katerina so she was pressing firmly on Luca’s shoulders, Riley got in place. It wasn’t that she doubted he’d be able to keep still, it was more that she knew just how much this would hurt and sometimes your body reacted differently to trauma than your mind. Looking him in the eyes, she nodded her head as she counted down. “Three… two,” and without even waiting until one, because sometimes the wait was worse, Riley muttered the spell that Luca alone had created, that he had taught her weeks prior, and severed limb from body. “Oh gods.” She muttered, having to close her eyes briefly as she dropped he arm into a wicker basked under the table and push it to the side. Instead she focused on his arm, bringing a towel to the remaining part of his arm to help the blood clot faster. “Luca, you have a plan.” She muttered, desperately. Could she perform surgery on him right now on their kitchen table? Yeah, she could, but did she want to? Not particularly. Her body was exhausted.

it was as if the mark mocked him from its spot on his skin. in truth, it had been mocking him for years. the echoes if his father in his ears. threatening him. threatening the person, he had come to love. the first time he was willing to let riley go if it meant he could protect. a selfish move to begin all of the others that he would be making. it meant servitude. it meant an alliance down to the very soul of a person. it meant death. when his dark eyes met his wife’s, he knew she wasn’t going to turn away. wasn’t going to back down. good. that’s what he needed.

suddenly there was action. riley’s words filling the silence of the room as she instructed their children to assist her. luca could here their son, whispering to his twin under his breath. ‘wait, what are we doing? are we seriously?’ the quick ‘shush’ from the two girls had him going quiet as he moved to do what his mother said and stood next to the equally tall older man.

taking a swig of the offered alcohol he was thankful for the burn. something grounding him in the moment of his last plan. his last-ditch effort to try and put distance between him and voldemort. he was going to say his fucking name. they had discussed it years ago. before they had the twins when she was full of katerina in her belly. could cutting it off work? he didn’t know. but he knew he was willing to try. it was only within the last few months that he thought of the last piece of keeping that twisting magic away from him. a strange form of blood magic, alchemy and pure fucking will. the components in the house. the spell she would use first would be what severed it. something of his own creation. the components a bit of a potion to make sure nothing necrotic came from the mark. he didn’t know the true inner workings, so he wasn’t going to give it a chance to surprise him.

taking the towel, he put it between his teeth. he counted his breaths in. one. two. within moments she let the spell off. his ears ringing like a roar. feeling the hands of his children on him was odd, as if it could center him. it did. there was a crack of his jaw with how hard he clenched with pain. the spell did it’s job. severed his skin like a knife through soft butter. blood oozing from beneath the towel as he breathed in. the taste of metal and fabric on his tongue. spitting out the towel he nodded his head slowly.

“in the space where we hid my wand,” his voice was low, like gravel and strained. pain coating every inch of his nerves. why the fuck did he think this was a good idea? “there is a bag of components that i need -,” he paused for a moment, catching his already shallow breath. “it will help me staunch the bleeding and help with the pain long enough to prepare for the next spell,” finally made it’s way out of his mouth in his hushed breath. looking up from the blood permeating the towel, he couldn’t hide the agony as he looked into riley’s. they were a cooling ocean in his haze of pain.

“the next one takes a little time for me to prepare.” he added with a nod. the.. salve in the hidden bag would stop the bleeding, help numb the pain and let him rest while he did some forbidden magic. he had already gone to azkaban, what else could they do to him? he didn’t miss the way his children hovered or the small smile his wife offered him as she went to get what he had asked for. exhaustion clear down to her very bones. it was less then a minute for her to return with the small package.

shakily he took it from her, not making her touch the open, dripping wound on his arm. digging into the bag he pulled out the small container that housed the thick, sludge like material he needed. feeling his eldest take the small container from his hand he looked at her for a moment, her eyes boring into him the same way he was told his did to people. an intensity all christensens seemed to inherit.

nodding, he quietly he reached for the towel, pulling it away. before he could reach for the open pot of salve, katerina was already reaching towards the stump of what was his arm. the salve sitting on the skin without causing an issue, until it hit his open wound. reacting the way, he had meant it to. sizzling it burned at the flesh to stop the bleeding completely. coating it in something that looked like tar and smelled like burned wood. but it worked. the throbbing pain that thundered in his veins, eased into a throbbing numbness that had him breathing out a sigh.

“takk,” he whispered softly as he moved to lean his head against the table. ignoring the looks of his loved ones around him, luca breathed in softly, soothing his own heart. he used to whisper to katerina in norwegian, hoping there would be something to remember of him. of course, he didn’t hold on to that hope over the years, but it didn’t stop him from thanking her softly anyway.

Whenever his deep, rough voice rumbled past his lips, she could always feel her skin begin to buzz. Had a man’s voice ever caused a reaction such as this within her before? No, she couldn’t remember a moment it had. She could however, remember their first meeting. How a blush crept along her chest as she spoke to him, their conversation simple yet genuine. How she couldn’t think of anyone but him for the next three days. He had consumed her thoughts, and she had hoped, no, prayed, that he’d step through the doors of her formal drawing room at least once to call upon her. 

They were months into the season, and soon the summer would be over, and still her body reacted the same way towards him. Her heart fluttered and her skin grew warm. A smile overtook her features and her eyes lit up. And when he said her name, oh how her stomach fluttered as if there were a thousand hummingbirds within it. 

But this time, the statement that was directed towards her caused her stomach to almost drop. And the blood began to pound in her ears as she tried to consider what exactly it was that he was implying. She wondered, almost hopelessly, if perhaps he was asking to be alone to propose. It wouldn’t be far fetched. She couldn’t remember seeing him humor any other ladies at these balls. And she hadn’t heard any rumors of him calling upon anyone else this far into the season. They had known each other a few months, and Riley knew couples that had been married in a shorter amount of time… it could be possible.

But then, her mind wandered off to another option. One that was dark and unknown. She knew there was a reason unmarried men and women were not supposed to be alone together, without a chaperone present. Did she know what happened during that time? No, but she knew whatever did happen had certainly caused a few rushed marriages, or so she had been told from the maids. The maids who seemed to know everything. Perhaps… perhaps whatever it was that he was implying would involve kissing. Kissing which, always seemed to lead to marriage as well. And she had never been kissed before so… Whatever might lie in these dark corners that he spoke of, Riley was oh so curious to discover it. 

She couldn’t understand why she felt warm, so she brought her fan up to lightly fan herself as she said, “I think my eldest brother is keeping a close eye on me tonight. but I’m sure if I were to request some time to get some fresh air, escape the heat in this ballroom, he might allow me to leave his presence.” Elijah had been courting Miss. Tremaine, last she heard. Perhaps she could request Lucy distract him for just a handful of minutes.

As he turned to face her, a breath hitching in her throat - because he was so intense it was alarming at times - she did not hesitate to reach out her wrist so he could take the last spot on her dance card. But as she was still far enough away, and could easily be mistaken as reaching for another glass of lemonade or a sweet pastry, she was interrupted by another man. A rather older gentleman. And she would never say it aloud, but an older gentleman that made her skin crawl when his eyes laid on her. He smiled in such a way that she felt as if he were purchasing a new mount. “Lady Fitzherbert. I was just having the most delightful conversation with your mother when she informed me you are not yet courting,” Lord Harrington, she was almost sure that was this man’s name. As she looked across the room and caught sight of her mother’s meddlesome eye, she missed the side glance Lord Harrington gave to Lord Christensen. As the man began to speak again, Riley’s attention was drawn back to him. “How surprised I was. What, the diamond of the season, without any suitors-”

“I can inform you, Sir, that I’ve had quite a number of suitors that have called upon me. We’ve just found those matches to be unsuitable.” She looked at Lord Christensen for a second, almost curious to see how he’d react to those words. 

“Yes well, I should like to thank those men. Unsuitable matches gives the rest of us a chance to throw our hat in the ring.” Riley tried so hard not to grimace, but the smile on her face became much more forced. Pained… was the right word.

“Ah… thank you, Sir.” Bringing her glass of lemonade back to her lips to take a long sip, because she needed a pause, she sighed after finishing the glass and putting it back down on the table. “Is there something you needed from me? A reason as to why you’ve left such a delightful conversation with my mother?”The smile he gave her made her stomach churn. 

“I shall like to see that dance card of yours. I believe your mother told me you had a few spaces left last she left you.” 

Riley’s eyes grew wide for a moment. Lord Christensen had been who she had saved the last spot for, but he had been unable to scrawl his name on there before Lord H arrived. “Oh. I am, so terribly sorry Sir, but my card is full. Perhaps we could share a dance at the next ball.” There was disappointment settling in her stomach now, because Lord Christensen would have no way to know she was lying through her teeth. 

there it was. the soft flush of crimson just under her skin. somedays it seemed as if there was only that glow in his life. but the rush of her heartbeat, the shift of her scent. luca was willing to believe she knew exactly what he had been referencing. well, what any human would believe him to be thinking of. the warmth of her lips. a quiver in her thighs. things he could easily indulge in and consume. even try to drown himself in for a time.

riley fitzherbert was captivating. every inch of her. from her sun spun hair, he could imagine that it glitters in the light of day. to the dainty way she shuffled on her feet when trying not to see nervous. if she had been around when he was young, truly young, he would have killed a man to keep her. razed a village if it meant he got to devour her. for the moment, however, he traced the lines of her face. a silhouette he had memorized months ago when they had begun the little dance between them. one he didn’t wish to end just yet.

he watched how her fan came to hide her face. a slight breeze, perhaps cooling to her, shifted the air so he could smell her, stronger than before, if that were possible. luca didn’t stop himself from dragging his tongue, ever so slightly, in the corner of his lips. his teeth ached with a need he knew too well, but it was dipped in something different. something that shook in the cage of his own chest. before he could make a comment on her eldest brother. something along the lines of being certain he could keep her entertained in a way her brother would approve, or in the very least something her brother wished he could do with that simpering blonde he was courting, a different scent assaulted him.

lord harrington.

the greying man’s eyes stayed on riley for the moment, while luca’s dark gaze watched him quietly. listen to how his heart sped at the sight of young skin. when the other man looked to him, well, luca couldn’t stop the tilt of his head. oh, humans. always acting as if their existence was something special. it took everything in him not to snarl. instead, he blinked slowly, watched how riley rushed to keep the man at bay. yes, he knew she was keeping him at bay. who wouldn’t be? there was a reason he was still unmarried at the age he was. unfortunately for him death hadn’t come to claim him… well, yet…

“yes, apologies lord harrington,” he spoked lowly, smoothly as he eyed the other man. instinct in him depending something he couldn’t give in the candlelight of the evening. but there was plenty of time. “i’m afraid i filled up lady fitherbert’s card a mere moment ago,” was added, an edge to his words that luca had no doubt the other man heard. if only he understood what that sharpened boundary truly meant. poor soul. “it seems her company will be mine tonight.”

taking a hand from behind his back, he held it out to her while he moved his eyes from the man near them, looking to that blue he had begun to enjoy a little too much. it was easy to imagine her in the moon light. pools of silver growing in the deepest of blue. his hand was ungloved. scandalous, he knew. if they looked carefully, they would even see the scars that littered his skin, but most humans were too distracted with his face. the tough life of an immortal and all that. luca held his hand out to her, beckoning her to be his for the evening. truly daring her. 

The flickering candles in the chandeliers cast a golden hue over the ballroom in the grand estate of Count and Countess Wells, and Riley could feel the excitement at the splendor before her. The ballroom was immaculate. White walls, marble floors and gold trim, the crest of the house painted on the center of the dance floor. Tables with crisp white clothes loitered around the room with lemonade and pastries for the guests. And a string quartet surrounding the grand fireplace, playing a melody that had the blonde’s fighting off the urge to dance by herself in the middle of the floor. 

Of course quite a number of gentlemen had come up and asked for her dance card, the piece of paper delicately hanging from a ribbon on her wrist. She had smiled softly and allowed a few men to write their names on it. It was filing up fast, and she had one dance unaccounted for. Well, to be quite frank, she was saving that spot for him. Lord Christensen. They had spoken quite a number of times throughout the season thus far, and during every encounter Riley found herself enraptured in the topic of conversation, but also in him. His almost black eyes were compelling and the slight curl to his hair begged for her hands to be run through it. She wanted nothing more then to pluck off her silk gloves and allow her fingers to touch the strands. But she held her control and made no indication of the warmth she was feeling. She’d fan herself, and blame the heat on the crowded room.

Riley, and her mother Viscountess Fitzherbert, had been sure that after her second conversation with the Lord, that he would call on her the following afternoon for tea. But nothing, the butler never came with his card. And both women had been discouraged. Which is why Riley had been encouraged as of recently to start engaging with some other gentlemen. If she would like to marry by the end of the season, she could not waste her time on what if’s. 

But when he entered the room, she knew she was going to ignore any other man that look her way. She gave it a few minutes, twenty at most, before walking over to the table he was nearby to grab a lemonade. Taking a sip, she made her way over to him and stood by his side. Far enough away that she would not gain a judgmental look from the numerous judgmental mama’s and their daughters. “Another twenty minutes and I would have bet anyone here that you would not grace us with your presence tonight, My Lord.” 

She smiled softly to herself as she took a sip, her voice, dare she say, holding a flirtatious edge. “Are you planning to dance tonight? Or just observe from the darkest corner you can find?” It was in that moment she doubted herself, just for a moment. What if he was just amusing her? Conversing enough to engage but eventually leave without forming any long term attachments. Her free hand went to nervously finger the fabric of her lilac dress, the white flowers embroidered into the skirt calming her nerves slightly.

there was something missing when it came to gatherings of people in the new century. the candle glow, soft and golden as it bathed the people in the ball room in a gentle light. luca never truly tried to count how many lives he had lived, but he knew the newest one had been the most interesting and yet, one of the dullest. the strings played a jaunty tune that made something in him yearn for music from his youth. craved the drums. the honey wine on his tongue. crisp air on his skin and warm flesh beneath his hands. but no, none of that anymore. in place of the war and ritual was decorum and careful chess games. tearing out throats wasn’t enough for entertainment most days. only the warmth of crimson gliding down his throat seemed to entertain his senses.

that was, of course, before he laid eyes on riley fitzherbert…

he couldn’t put a name to what it was about her. what tantalized him as much as urged him to not simply rip out her throat and disappear into the night. he was a monster from all the tales after all. he had murdered before he was plunged into darkness, so it wasn’t as if he was worried about his immortal soul. christians. but there was something. in her scent. in the light perfume that seemed to hang around her naturally. her sky-blue eyes that at times seemed to dance with silver in them. the way she tried to hide her excitement at seeing him. the first time he listened to how her heart danced. just. for. him.

his eyes were on her the moment she walked into the room, but he had always been good at using the shadows as his own. lurking in the darkness near the window. he tracked her as she looked about. silken blonde hair glittering. her eyes dancing across the room searching. with how disappointment seemed to shine on her face every time she looked to someone new, he was certain he knew what or more of whom, she was looking for. a smile curved the corner of his lips before he moved from his position at a speed no mortal could comprehend before reaching the door as if he was coming in from the outside.

it provided a wind tossed look to his hair. haphazardly curling the edges, the way, he enjoyed. almost as if he had fixed his hair to be such. his mere presence was striking, he knew. the black he wore always stood out in such a way that contrasted with the others around him. with his hands behind his back, luca walked in with that smirk still curling his mouth. his eyes deliberately searching for the blonde he knew, simply knew was looking for him.

luca wasn’t disappointed as he caught sight of her, a vision in soft lilac. always so soft. resisting the urge to smirk in her direction, he found himself standing idly. allowing his head to nod towards various people in greeting. their heart beats picking up at the mere sight of him. yes, he knew he was attractive. poor dears. her voice, gentle, teasing washed over him. sweet as honey. he tilted his head towards her. showing he was listening. keeping the distance between them, per protocol.

“oh, lady fitzherbert,” he began lowly, his voice rough. luca’s true accent practically none existent. “i would only find a dark corner tonight if it meant i could keep your company throughout.” the implications were dangerous, but he couldn’t wait to hear how her heart would spike. dance in the cage of her chest. how her scent would bloom like one of the flowers she touched, ever so gently, embroidered on her skirt.

for most of his years, he knew he was different. vague memories of a father and a car accident. a deep irish accent in his ears that he too learn with age before breaking free of the isle. running to anywhere but where he had been trapped for years. it was the breaking glass and the hard ground in his memory that dug deep into his skin. scars that never healed even when age slowly crawled all over him. if anything, they grew in number. marks and shadows from the life he had to live. luca wondered if he should have died long ago? maybe he would have, if not for the voice in his head. 

a voice that was his only source of comfort when he was old enough to understand. the soft whispers he grew familiar with and learned to never speak of. not everyone believed in the gods after all. not unless it was the ‘one true christ’ or what people blabbered about. every family he had lived with tried to raise him catholic but really, if they knew his mother, Hera, the goddess, was in his head, perhaps they would have understood why he was a little stubborn about it. his father was gone. taken from him. he had the scars to prove it. the memory of blood and hands pushing him from the car. something was burning. all of those things proved that. but he still had her. even when she wasn’t close. 

she was the very reason he had walked into camp half blood. how fucking original. creatures of all kinds had begun to pop up in his travels. smelling him. something special. rumors were swirling that there was a rare god child. she had warned him to be careful. of course, he was stubborn enough to push along. what was another scar or two? a-fucking-lot... apparently. his side still ached from where he had been tossed. his wits knocked out of him until he broke into it’s head and made it stop. made it leave. 

his gifts were unlimited she said. her only half human child. precious. she was honored when he got two tattoos dedicated to her. feathers of the most import scrawled on his skin. bright and colorful, screaming her importance. his loyalty. 

still, when he had dragged himself, still injured, into the camp - they had not known what to do with him at first. unknown who’s he was. outside of the fact that he entered, and was clearly a half blood, they knew nothing else. when he told them, they hadn’t believed. not when they brought him to a cabin to receive healing. not until his very mother revamped the cabin they had made as a place of ‘honor’ for the queen of the gods. a note left just for him. welcoming him home. 

the scent of her was on the air when he stood at the entrance. his week had been spent in a different cabin. apollo’s children. they had a little space and they were willing. now, he stood in front of the cabin that was to be his and he needed to take a breath. breathing in what he knew was her scent, instinctively knew, eased an ache in him he couldn’t name. “home sweet home,” he mumbled to himself. his irish brogue strong on his tongue as he looked at his companion that had lead him to the cabin. her blonde hair, not as glittering in the moon light. “thanks for the help.” 

a mantra. burned in luka’s blood that when he led, he would lead with sense. that despite their preparation. their ability to kill and survive, it would not simply be that. they would bleed. they would burn. but they would have a chance to live. it was what had him allowing the trikru envoys into their land. assisting them when the mountain men tried to get too close. listening when the new commander spoke of a treaty. something akin to peace. his quiet willingness didn’t ease all of the clans of course. 

the boudalan were always feared. formidable. unbent. unbroken. the elders of the clan did not wish for him to kneel to her. leksa. heda. but her goal was his goal. bringing the end to the men that lived in the mountain. mountains that weren’t his. just thinking of them put luka’s teeth on edge. he would have their blood. one way or another. 

he bent. he went to every clan meeting. he listened. he compromised. swallowed his pride and provided insight when asked. if asked. watched as people fell from the sky. listened when they learned they weren’t warriors. watched as they slowly were brought into the clans. as the commander claimed them with fire. but allowed them to live. willing to trade. willing to bring them into the fold. luka waited to see what would be expected of them. perhaps he should have seen it coming. seen how she would play the game.

bring them into your clans she murmured. wed them. teach them. learn from them she ordered. it was a hard order to take. being told that they had to bring one into their own fold. share secrets. there were more than a few his people didn’t share lightly. things that had puzzled the other clans. things of blood. still, luka listened. watched how the other clans moved. their reluctance far more clear than his own. his silence something expected and nearly welcome. it was his acceptance of her request without a fight that was the surprise.

the elders were not pleased but he would do what was needed. their goal still the same. the mountain would fall and he would do what it took to bring it down. whatever it took. 

it’s what found him with a soon to be wife. a girl from the sky. hair golden like the sun that hung above. easy on the eyes perhaps. but one look at her told him that her time with the trikru still left some of her soft edges. so many of them still so soft when you looked in their eyes. despite what they had seen. perhaps it was never enough. 

his willingness to bend to her command had the girl, riley coming with him to their home. the track long in an effort to keep their trail hidden. just like they always did. doubling back twice before finally making their way. as tradition stated, they would wait until fredag for a wish of good fortune in their marriage. the marriage would be true, despite the alliance quality it held. he would be true. per custom he left her with the woman elders. allowed them time to teach her the things of their clan she would need to know sooner rather than later. how the ceremony would work.  

the day of the wedding moved quickly.. 

luka’s time was spent in preparation of his own. his body washed and maintained. dark hair braided with intricately carved pieces of bone weaved in. his clothing light and soft. nearly white but not quite there. his blooded blade, tested in war but not tested the same way the one she would be given him would be. it didn’t taken much thought for him to run the blade over his own hand. countless enemies had fallen to the sharp weapon. none with blood as black as his. it was as if the night sky bled from him. more blood in the ink for later before he placed a dark strop of fabric on the wound, before winding it in the common white bandage. hiding the color of his blood easily. a well practiced move. 

it was only as he stood waiting for her that it sunk in. he was truly marrying an unknown party simply to keep an alliance. to stay within the coalition. but the thought of the mountain loomed. of his sister. looking at the commander pained him with their similarities. he would do whatever it took.

She hadn’t expected the door to open, no she wasn’t prepared for that. She had settled to watch him, for how long she didn’t know. Maybe until he fell asleep, or she. But she had come to terms with the glass between them. But he so simply let that door between them open, and it caused a soft gasp to leave her lips. Riley stepped backwards. Was she ready for this? For him?

His voice was wrong. No, different. The melodic nature of the fae voices was there, slightly, but there was something else in him. Something empty. It didn’t feel like the boy she had left. The one she had spent day after day with, sitting in a comfortable silence together. The boy she had loved. She wanted to know what had happened. Although considering where they were, she had her suspicions. 

As he spoke again, the familiarity crept in. The feeling that she had missed throughout the decades, and so desperately craved, was filling her veins. “It is. It’s beautiful.” She murmured, the second beautiful thing she had seen while here. He had been the first. Always. She had called him beautiful once before, or… maybe not. Maybe she never spoke the words out loud. Maybe she just thought them to herself. Afraid to let him know how far she had fallen. Allow the illusion to remain. To play as if there wasn’t a deep yearning in her soul for him. But she couldn’t ignore that now. Her fingers were itching for him, her body buzzing to feel his form against her own.

Without thinking she rushed forward, soft hand reaching for his jaw, while the other grasped his arm. And she flinched at the contact. Maybe it was because up until this moment she had partially convinced herself this had been an illusion. That he wasn’t truly here in front of her. Or maybe it was because she could just feel the lack of humanity within him. Human no longer, all Unseelie. How had Hans done it? She wasn’t aware you could turn human into fae. There had always been whispers, but no one had ever tried it. No one had succeeded. This was unheard of.

But he was there, firm beneath her. And as quickly as she grabbed him before, she was there in his arms. Her hands tightly hugging his back while her face fell into the crook of his neck. Wet tears welled up in her eyes. She was already emotional, leaving her family, her world behind. Being trapped by a King who felt more like a Tyrant, and now seeing him? It was too much, she couldn’t handle it. And she just wanted to feel a sense of comfort. But again, this was wrong. Different. “You smell wrong.” She murmured, pulling backwards to look in his eyes. Oh those dark eyes she had been caught gazing into one too many times. Her blue ones were full of sadness, liquid sunshine pooling within until it spilled out the corner. 

“What have they done to you…” She questioned, her voice a whisper as she softly brushed his hair out of his face. “Oh my, Luca.” My love. “What happened?”

he tried to read her as she spoke. looking around the garden surrounding them. it had a dark beauty. he knew that. excerpts from books of poetry whispered in his mind. but they died just as quickly as they came when he took an easy breath in. her voice was soft. but still something that could be heard. warm like he imagined the summer sun to be. he knew it was the only thing appropriate. with how she even seemed to shimmer in the moonlight from above them. 

again he was struck with the thought of knowing her. Luca’s skin danced with the phantom knowledge of her but he couldn’t remember it. couldn’t remember her. to say he was surprised when she rushed towards him would have been an understatement. her earm smoving to wrap around him. 

for a moment he was stone. ice so cold he couldn’t move. a lord of winter like he was meant to be. her skin so warm he thought maybe it burned. but it burned so good. a shiver rolled down his spine when she pushed her face into his neck. it took a moment. more beats of his heart then perhaps one would think for him to move his arms around her loosely. a shadow of himself pounding against the ice of his mind. 

she would only be so close to him if he meant something to her yes? she had to have known him. but the harder he tried to think of her, the larger the chasm in his mind grew. an abyss so dark and deep that even he didn’t wish to tred within it. the shadows spoke of things that he would fear if confronting them. things that would make him wish for death. things that already had made him wish for such. 

still, he danced close enough to the edge to allow her into hold him. breathed in her scent and was meet with wisps from the dark. summer flowers on the wind. something close to amber and warmth. so layered it tantalized his senses. Luca would to be wrapped in it. 

her murmured words made his mind paused. yes, that would make sense. even among the other fae he smelled different. his essence colder than the winter court around them. made the once of autumn shiver in his presence. he was a lord of ice, they would whisper. “i imagine.” he offered lowly when their eyes met. 

seeing them so close did something to him. the way her unshed tears pooled in her eyes like the golden sun. if he wasn’t so captivated by it he would have scoffed, because of course she did. but instead he was transfixed. of course she did. 

she said his name with such reverence. as if it meant something special to her. he didn’t understand but it filled him with an internal warmth. as if she meant something to him to. that name burning on his rib cage. she must have known him before. to know that there was anything to have been done to him. bringing his hand up, he smoothed a thumb under her eyes. chasing away tears he wasn’t sure he could handle seeing fall. “the king gave me a gift.” he tore him apart. rendered him hollow and left him broken. the ice crawled in and splintered his mind. the shadows wrapped around and choked the life out of him. 

“i was shown a better way.” only when he was filled with the cold of winter and darkness of nightmares was he able to stand again. only when he never mentioned the world before. when his mind couldn’t recall all the pieces was he allowed to finally stop bleeding. but he couldn’t say these things. even in a garden the king didn’t finish he had ot be careful. “i was given a new life with his gracious generosity. i am very thankful.” 

Riley had spent numerous centuries avoiding this very moment. Hans had been attempting to court her for years upon year and every time he had requested she visit him within the Unseelie Court, she had found excuse to stay within her home. In the sunshine with her siblings and friends, laughing. Convinced that one day Hans would give up and find some new, younger fae to be his Queen, the golden haired beauty was continuously shocked at how long this had continued on for. Now after nearly two hundred years of denying the man, Riley’s better’s had gotten involved. It seems peace between the two Courts was in the works and Hans’ had a few conditions. Number one being that Riley join him in the Unseelie Court as his Queen. A marriage to define the peace between the two Courts, he had said. A show of unity, he said. Riley knew it was all lies. He had seen an opportunity and ran with it, and now she was doomed to suffer by his side.

Although she hadn’t fully felt true happiness in decades. Not since him. The human boy she had stumbled upon, had grown to love. His disappearance caused darkness to swirl around her heart, which had been even a surprise to her as she had never fully given herself to the boy. Never so much as kissed him. She wouldn’t allow the physical aspect, because if she had then she’d be his, completely. She could enjoy the emotional attachment and chalk it up to a friendship, although now she’s aware it was love. Even if she didn’t want to admit it. Because in the years since his disappearance, she had yet to feel anything similar to what she felt when around him. Perhaps that why she didn’t fight Hans has hard this time, when her Queen informed her of the expected union between Riley and Hans, the blonde accepted her fate.

As she walked through the large, darkened, angular and somewhat beautiful entry hall of the Unseelie Court Castle, Riley let her eyes linger over the staff that would be working for her. When Hans arrived, a sick smile on his face and his lips finding the corner of her own in a greeting, she tried not to flinch. When he introduced her to his son she gave him a curt nod, but it was when he introduced his ward that she grew stiff and uncomfortable. It… wasn’t. It couldn’t be. It was him, although the human features were gone. Now replaced with the angular and unnatural beauty of a fae. Riley could see the sick smile on Hans’ face. He had known what this man had meant to her, he had done this. Had it been a plan of his? All along? Regardless Riley hadn’t the time to process the new information as she was being swept along through the East Wing to her new room, a handmaiden attempting to give her a tour of the grounds, but it was useless. Riley couldn’t retain anything at the moment, not with her mind reeling.

After entering her room, the door behind her was quickly locked, and it was clear she was not a guest in this place. She was a prisoner. Dread began to fill her lungs as she looked for some way to escape this place, and it’s when she found the doors to her balcony. The balcony that looked down into the twilight filled gardens. The only thing of beauty that could calm her at the moment. There was a metal staircase of intricate design that led from her balcony into the gardens, and she was quick to explore further. A soft sigh leaving her lips as the soft grass cushioned her bare feet. She could tell through a quick exploration that the garden was closed off. High, smooth walls weren’t made for climbing. There was a door that led into the lower level of the castle, but it too was locked. A glass pane window next to it let her see inside, and suddenly he was there. A ghost from her past, reminding her of what was, and what could’ve been. “Luca…” she muttered, wondering how he was here. Hoping he remember her, them.

numb. that’s how most days began in the dimly lit world Luca had come to call his own. he didn’t pretend to know how long he had been among the fae. he had lost his sense of time long ago. what he did know was the feel of ice in his veins every time he took a breath. he knew his skin had been peeled away and replaced with something that was like a costume. the king, Hans told him that he was one of the unseelie. reborn from the muck of who he once was. transformed. a metamorphosis. but he could still taste his own blood in his mouth. remember his own screams. 

winter frost coated his heart, no matter how hard he had fought against it. vaguely he thought of the other realms. the human realm. where he belonged. at least had belonged once. it made something bubble up in his chest. something dark that he could never quiet name but if he wanted to try, he would have called it rage. it wasn’t a heat like he remembered. wasn’t all encompassing to a point of not being able to see beyond it. instead, it was slow. like molasses. creeping through his veins like a frozen river. he was part of the unseelie court, immortality granted him time. time to hate. time to plan.

listening to the king speak of who he would marry made something flicker in his chest. her name, familiar but not enough to spark a memory or thought. just a feeling across his skin. something gossamer and soft. Luca feared if he tried to grasp it that it would run further or worse, fall apart. 

still, he silently listened. nodding at the right parts. smirking at the cruelty he could see tugging at the Hans’ features. the girl was of the seelie. sunshine and heat. warmth and spring. flowers and life. the world she would be brought to would be barren compared to what she had seen before. he could almost feel a flicker of pity. no, not pity. empathy. he could vaguely remember a world of life. but he kept his dreams and nightmares to himself. spoke of no memories. played his part with a deadly precision. 

he allowed the servants to dress him in the royals chambers, as if he was the princeling himself. even when the man eyed him with something akin to jealousy and hate. Luca couldn’t bring himself to care. but he noted it none the less. must have been difficult to have a father that would rather replace you. that looked at you as if you were nothing even when you had been born for the power in the blood. born for it instead being emptied and filled with it. 

pushing the thoughts to the side, he tiled his head in the direction of the king as he spoke. listened to his low words of the other courts. speaking of the lords and the games they all played. manipulation that Hans always seemed to win. good for him. for the moment anyway. offering nothing but a cruel smile in return, he watched how the elder’s eyes lit up with pleasure before focusing back at the moment at hand. she was coming. the summer fae. whatever he had been preparing himself for. whatever he had believed he would be seeing, had been wrong. he wasn’t prepared at all. 

prepared for the way his cold heart constricted with a phantom hand around it. her blue eyes something so familiar it ate at his brain. his very soul. vaguely he knew she was beautiful but it was an echo of a thought not a new one. not as if he was seeing her with fresh eyes. it made his costume of a skin feel wrong. made his flesh burn and he wanted to do nothing but rend it from his own bones. still, he stood like stone. only nodding in acknowledgement when he was introduced. 

watching the king in his peripheral for a moment, he noted the pleased curve to his lips. again Luca could taste his own blood on his tongue. another ghost but potent still. 

but the moment moves. time continues forward and the girl is no longer in front of him. an ache fills his chest that he pushes to the side. to ignore. it claws at him. tells him they have met. tells him that he knows her. knows her and yearns to be near her. 

ignoring it, he swallowed it down. moved along as he was expected. listened to Hans boast to himself. he spoke to his son like he was a minuscule speck but when he turned to Luca, he smiled. that smile that made him want to leave. run. spoke to an old instinct that it was unsafe but Luca didn’t fear the same way anymore. it was all different from what it once was.

what do you think? was pointedly asked in his direction as the two of them walked through the halls, Luca going towards his room, the king following. the look that came with the question warned him that the king was looking for something. it spoke volumes on what he had been feeling. “i think she will please you.” he answered low, like the gravel that would crumble beneath their feet when they walked. “so, sparkly.” he added as an after thought that simmering with sarcasm him. 

a bark of laughter was thrown his way. he had pleased the man. good. it allowed him freedom for the night when the parted ways. as if the world ever truly saw the sun. moving into his room, he eyed the windows for a brief moment. looking to the garden that offered some strange piece of serenity. he was told to move his rooms to somewhere more extravagant. but he preferred the smaller area. the bookshelves that lined the walls. the nearly murky windows that went into the garden that bloomed with flowers only from their realm. a strange point of ease. there was an extra room for his sleeping quarters. he preferred to be away from the princeling and his annoying habit of measuring himself to Luca. as if they were even close to being the same.  

running a hand through his longer hair, he was about to make his way to one of the bookshelves. choose an old tome for the night as he flicked a wrist and a soft blue flame lit in the lantern, until he saw the figure in the garden. the figure looking his way. despite himself, he found his body moving towards the glass pane that separated them. watched how her lips shifted with his name on her tongue. it sent a thrill down his spine that he couldn’t understand. a warmth to his skin. he was always so cold. 

eyeing her for a moment, he traced her lines before he brought his eyes to her’s. noted just how blue they were, even in the twilight before moving to the door that would allow him out to the garden. unlocking it with a will rather than a key it opened so the chill in the air both soothed and set him alight. 

“my lady,” he greeted, his voice sounded a hollow thing on his tongue. as if what he said was wrong. like he was meant to say something else. his muscles told him he was meant to close the gap between them. breathe in the scent she provided as if it was made for him. still, he kept his distance but he could not help if a small smile tugged at the corner of his lips, as if it was meant to be there. Riley. her name was Riley and it was as if it was written on his very rib cage. he had nothing to say to her but then he had everything. he would start with.. “i hope the garden is treating you well.”

please. luca wasn’t an idiot. not like he hadn’t been a sort of spy the first time around. 

still. he knew the dark lord would use that simmering connection with harry potter. the implications made a part of him shiver with curiosity. a part of him that understood magic on a blood level. how to weave pieces of a spell together. tear a spell a part just to turn it into something. but his conscious. his logic knew there was no good in how they were connected. even if the dark lord himself was too insane to put it together. almost tragic. almost…

even as he stood in his dark robes. mask firmly in place. lucius speaking as if his crooner of a voice would get the potter kid to do a damn thing he wanted. prophecy bounced around luca’s mind silently as he stared at his two children defiantly standing next to the boy who lived. his children. his fucking children. part of him was filled with pride. part of him was filled with exasperation. the biggest part of him of course was filled with rage over the fact that fucking teenagers were standing against them in the department of ministry with no adults present that weren’t in the very least dubious in nature. himself included.

smiling beneath his skeletal exterior as once again harry fucking potter stood in front of people that could and would kill him only to practically tell them to fuck off. he loved it. for nearly eight mins… it started a game for him. appear, avoid and make sure the kids didn’t end up dead. so, what if he added silent bit to a spell or two. a shelf collapsing violently on one of his… companions. rickety really. an inappropriate bout of amusement filled his mind as he thwarted people silently. protecting his children and their friends without being to loud. without arousing suspicion.

a shadow among the dark corridors as he trailed his children. the two of them sticking close to potter without even a second glance. pride blooming like a warm bruise in his chest when he watched niko blast a death eater across the room, only to grab her brother’s hand and continue like she didn’t break a sweat. this. this he could watch. perhaps in better circumstances. it was easy to imagine how it would have been to teach them how to dual. show them the secrets he knew. the weaknesses most wizards had. but he didn’t have time to dwell. not as they landed in the department of mysteries. not with the whispers filling the room.

he watched how they held the children, but it was bellatrix’s eyes that sent a chill down his spine. how she stared between nikoletta and elias. his arms wrapped around daughter with his wand lazily pressed to her throat. his other hand holding her arm gently as if he wanted to soothe her. let her know she wasn’t alone. like that would make her feel better. before he could move. before he could push her attention away. everything left his mind the moment light flashed in the room. the order was finally there. at first, he thought he could breathe in relief… that was until he saw a head of hair he knew. until the literal breath left his body. there was no way niko didn’t feel it. no, way she didn’t feel how his hand clenched. “dad,” she barely whispered but it was enough. her breath had caught that bitch’s attention

bellatrix looked at him. looked at riley and cackled. a sound he heard often. in his nightmares and waking moments. oh, he loathed it. the sound so jarring it was as if time paused. those around them, for the briefest of moments, seemingly, didn’t know what to do. the appearance of riley, her death greatly exaggerated. it took another cackle as she flung the longbottom boy violently away. preparing for the fight she knew would come. her wand raised, this time pointed at him and nikoletta. her eyes crazed as she grinned looking at his wife. “you would betray our lord, luca.” that made it sink in. as if the lights turned back on. it took less than a heartbeat. less than a breath as he flung a spell at the death eater holding elias. something cruel on the tip of his tongue. flinging the man back with a sickening crack.

flinging his mask to the ground. the satisfying crack as it hit the dirt and his daughter was shoved behind him. in less than ten seconds he had killed a fellow death eater and stood between his children and the world. his eyes barely flicked to riley before a feral smirk curled at his lips. “fuck our lord.” the next spell was wordless as he flung it at her without blinking. a spell from riley meshing with his in the same direction. distracting her enough to push their children back. riley within reach. his blood burning in his body. finally, he had the feeling of being alive. fun as he was good as dead anyway. the moment the dark lord found out. he would. oh, he would.

Her brow rose at his words. There was only one real way to find out if it was truly a lake or not. She pushed the thoughts of taking a swim to the back of her mind as she continued to eat the sandwich in front of her. She was surprisingly hungry, and realized it was because she had skipped lunch in favor of getting her quicker. Because she knew that she wanted to have a picnic with Luca and she didn’t want to stifle her appetite. And it seemed the room knew exactly what her favorite was. Soon it was gone, and she was popping a few of the fresh grapes in her mouth as she listened to the boy in front of her. Her smile grew as he spoke of lying in the sun together. That sounded lovely. She would happily do that until curfew tonight. Maybe even past curfew. She did have her prefect pin, she could always tell them she was on duty. Or trying to find some Hufflepuff’s that snuck out. “That sounds perfect.” She told him, leaning in to softly kiss his lips again. The kiss was a big longer than the one earlier. That one was a hello, this one was a ‘I missed you. I missed this.’ Breathing him in, she sighed against his lips as she pulled away and laid down on the blanket.

Her hands came up to her braid, and she began to slowly untie it. Her blonde locks falling in waves around her body. “This is everything.” When she was done untying her braid her hand blindly felt along the blanket for his hand. When she found it, she squeezed it softly. “I wish we could do this for real. But until then, this is perfect.” Sometimes it wasn’t all fun and games, hiding what they were. Sometimes she wanted nothing more than to walk hand and hand with him through the stone hallways. To introduce her incredibly large and nosy family to her boyfriend, the boy who made her heart swell. To eat lunch together and have Luca wear her scarf at Quidditch games when she was flying on the field. It was just, there was things she’d love to have. For them. But at the end of the day, just being with him was enough. She’d rather have him in private than not at all. “If I go for a little swim, will you join me?” The blonde wondered, dropping her hand from his and going to her button up. She didn’t look away from him as she began to undo the button’s, one by one letting them pop through the hole and exposing more soft skin to him. Maybe she wanted to see his reaction, maybe that made a warmth pool at her core. “And then we can lie around after?” She popped open the last button as she asked, the thin, simple, cotton bra under the crisp button up just slightly peaking through.

following her lead, Luca began to pull apart one of the sandwiches in front of him. quietly breathing in, willing his muscles to relax. they were totally alone in the room. nothing but magic surrounding them. the safest they could ever be. smiling softly when she thought just being in the sun together was a perfect idea too, he nodded his head. they could make a night of it. push the limit for how far they could stay out past curfew. she had her prefects pin but even with his lack of one, he didn’t worry about it. he had spent a good portion of his life disappearing in shadows to avoid people far more frightening than the teachers of the school. not to mention he had been doing it for well over a year and still was doing fine. that smile still curved his lips as he answered her kiss. softly breathing in the moment and savoring it. gods he had missed her. it didn’t matter that they had seen each other the day before. it was never the same in front of others. 

watching her lay back, he reached for another strawberry, chewing it idly while his eyes followed her fingers as they undid her hair. he wanted that. he wanted to be able to hold her hand and kiss her in front of all of them. without a fear in the world. but he was - afraid. squeezing her hand back, he resisted the urge to bring it to his lips. trace her skin softly, as if he never had before. Luca didn’t live under a false assumption that anything in Hogwarts would remain safe. sacred. he knew better than that. darkness was always everywhere there was light. one day he knew he wouldn’t be able to outrun it but, he didn’t want it to swallow her too. he was lucky that Riley was willing to keep it hidden. willing to understand that it was something he needed to keep for himself. but he didn’t offer any of the words that swirled in his head. just nodded softly in agreement. how he wished. 

her question caught him off guard slightly but he found himself smirking. a small upturn of his lips as he needed at her question. “yes,” he answered easily. without missing a beat as he watched her hands move to unbutton her shirt. licking his lips softly, he moved to mirror her gesture. undoing the buttons of his own shirt, knowing every scar was easily seen. things she already knew about him. Luca’s eyes traced the lines of her skin and didn’t stop himself from when a hand over top one of her breasts. tracing the line of the soft bra and moving to push her shirt from her shoulders. he wished his mouth was his fingers but.. alas... not yet.. “i would be more than happy to lay with you after.” his hand move to brush off the other side of her shirt from her shoulder. a ghost of a smile on his lips. “i’d feel blessed to do so even.”

She hadn’t gotten much accomplished while she waited for Luca to join her. He had arrived pretty soon after she had, but the girl had at least been able to pull all the food out of the picnic basket and place them at the foot of the blanket. Sandwiches that looked divine. Fresh fruit and a few bottles of chilled butterbeer. And last but not least, soft and gooey cookies. It amazed her how much this room was able to conjure, the sheer magical force it had was kind of astounding. As Luca started towards her, peeling off layer after layer, she realized she was still warm in her uniform. They had both dresses for winter, but in here it was summer, and it was starting to get to be a bit unbearable.

She was in the process of tugging off her socks when he joined her, a soft giggle leaving her lips as his words. She’d never eat the strawberries, they both knew they were for him. She gave a soft cheer when she was able to pull the socks off, the fabric of her stockings made it much harder to pull them off, there was more friction then she was used to. Turning to look at Luca, she smiled brightly at his words. “I thought so. We never get to spend summer together.” Leaning in to meet his kiss, she noted his lips were sweeter. When he had even had time to eat a strawberry in the moments he had gotten to the blanket? “Mmm yeah. I couldn’t really concentrate, I was too excited for this.” She told him, making quick work of pulling off her slightly sheer, black stockings as well. They might not look hot, but boy did those things hold heat. Her skirt might’ve inched higher up her thighs while she shimmied off the stockings, but a part of her found it a bit thrilling.

Letting out a huff once the stockings were off and discarded in the pile that held her robe, shoes and socks, she set off for the last piece of clothing. The knit sweater. Luca had thrown his somewhere and she knew that it would get way too hot in here with this on. She tried to talk to him while she removed it. “What about you? Good day?” As it was finally tugged off and thrown away, Riley let out a soft sigh of relief. She already felt lighter, cooler. Looking at Luca, she noted how relaxed he looked on the blanket. It was nice to see him this way. Maybe one day, when they were older, they could get a house near the shore. Or a cottage in the highlands. Somewhere sprawling with nature, somewhere private they could just be together.

Leaning over the boy, she grabbed for some of the food at the bottom of the blanket, bringing back the sandwiches with her, and the fresh bowl of fruit. She popped a grape her in mouth as she got comfortable on the blanket, laying sideways with her head propped up on her hand. “Do you think the lake is real?” She asked, looking out at the faux Hogwarts grounds before them. “I’ve never tried to conjure a body of water in here. I wonder if we can swim in it, or if it’s just an illusion.” She started on her sandwich while she contemplated her question.

his body still hummed pleasantly from the kiss as he watched her slowly start to take the heavier layers off as well. it wasn’t lost on him how her skirt rode up when she took off her stockings. eyeing her smooth skin quietly, he resisted the urge to touch her. vowing to himself that he would save that for later, he just smiled her way. gods he was certain he was in love with her. not that it had left his lips yet. nothing spoken out loud but he could feel it. the way it swirled in his chest.  “definitely something to look forward to during class. as class was boring. per usual.” was easy to admit. it was nothing she hadn’t heard before honestly, the classes at hogwarts were too easy. the curriculum nothing compared to the things he had learned at his other school. or even more so what he was forced to learn at home. child’s play really. but nothing but perfection was accepted. his grades and the grades of his siblings proved that. 

pushing the thoughts to the side, he let her lean over him. this time not resisting the urge to shift her braid behind her should so it wouldn’t fall into anything. an excuse to simply touch her out of wanting to do so. when she shifted into position. the food between them, he moved to mirror the way she was laying. propping his own head up in his hand while he took another strawberry with his other hand. “magic can make anything real as it needs to be.” he replied softly. his mind wandering to darker places for a moment before he focused on the sparkling water in front of them. small waves forming from the breeze around them. “but there’s always one way to find out.” he added before taking a bite of the strawberry in hand. the thought of a warm swim on a summer day was tempting. 

“however, to be honest, i think i will just be happy to lay in the sun today.” was a quick follow when he thought swimming over a little more. he would much rather just lay with her in the sun. see if she had the temptation to run her fingers through his hair like she had so many times before. something he enjoyed perhaps a little too much. it had been a thought of his over the summer months when they weren’t together. how amazing it would have been to just spend lazy days. intertwined in the sun. doing nothing but whispering of dreams. he loved to hear her speak on what she wished the future to hold. it was so light. airy. fittingly like a summer’s day. so different than his. not different than his dreams perhaps... but what he knew his future would be. he couldn’t outrun the darkness forever.  “with you.”

Riley sat within the greenhouse of Hogwarts, Herbology class almost coming to an end, blue eyes gazing longly out the glass windows. It was winter, and the grounds were covered in snow. Large flakes were falling down from the sky and landing on the glass, only living for a few seconds before melting from the heat within the room. Regardless of the temperature outside, the classrooms of the school were never too hot or cold - the hallways were another story. Probably a simple spell cast on the walls some time ago. But anytime she was in the greenhouse during the winter, she couldn’t help but feel entranced by the outside and let her mind wander. Was this what it was like to be inside of a snow globe?

Suddenly her attention was pulled from outside when a body passed through her field of vision. Noting that her classmates had started to gather their belongings and leave, Riley realized it meant class was over. “Did we have an assignment?” She asked the boy who shared her table, but he was already halfway out the door. Cursing herself, she gathered her things and ran after one of her house mates who might’ve been paying better attention.

It had taken a good five minutes, but she had finally been able to figure out the assignment and what was expected of her for next class. It wasn’t often that she so easily day dreamed, but she had a date today and that always put her head a little bit farther into the clouds. And after seeing the frozen lake outside, Riley knew what their date would entail. It was her turn to plan it, and she had been kind of freaking out all day trying to pin point an idea, until now.

Practically running to where the room of requirement would always show itself to her and Luca, the blonde stopped outside of the large wall, closed her eyes and thought hard to herself. I need you to look just like the grounds outside Hogwarts. But in summer. Fresh flowers and a warm breeze, with a picnic basket right next to the lake. Hearing the shift of stone and the sound of wood appearing in front of her, the blonde opened her eyes and smiled brightly when opened her eyes. It had to work. It always did. And one of the worst parts about having a relationship in Hogwarts, is that the school year mostly spanned during the fall and winter months. She and Luca maybe had a few dozen days in the warm sun to spend outside, because come summer break, they only spoke through letters.

Hearing the sound of footsteps heading in her direction, the blonde quickly slipped into the room and shut the door behind her, just incase it wasn’t her boyfriend. And when she saw room around her, it was like she almost forgot she was inside the castle walls. It was so real, she could even hear the birds chirping, a few flying around above her. The sun was bright and warmed her skin as she kicked off her shoes and let the soft grass cushion her feet. A soft giggle left her lips when she fell back on the wool blanket. This would be perfect.

Now she waited.

Maybe Luca wouldn’t mind if she dug into the food early, so long as she saved any fruit or chocolate for him. Just as she opened the picnic basket, she heard the door open. “I promise I won’t eat the strawberries!”

twisting his wand in hand, Luca looked through the book in front of him. that text spoke of fiendfyre. how the form of the fire ever-shifting as it would consume. it wasn’t the fire itself that interested him. what really had him thinking was how he could use the same concept in a different way. a different spell. shifting in his seat in the library, he noted his sister Clara pursuing a thoroughly dark potions text. both if them normally entranced in the thoughts when planning something they were going to experiment with. they both somehow miraculously had a free period. normally they didn’t get along. not in a way most of the families around them did. but there was no one else he would rather sit with pondering spells and hexes. at least with the nature of what he was thinking. 

closing the small book, he slid it back into his bag. he took no notes of what he was planning just to make sure there was no evidence and cast a quick ‘tempus’. noting the time, he kept his face neutral, watching how his sister watched him. nodding in her direction, he headed out of their dark corner in the library. his walk was calm as he made his way to where he just so happened to be meeting a certain blonde. it was hard not to smile softly when thinking of Riley. they had been, together, for some time. it was something so soft and light compared to the rest of his life that he cherished it more than he could ever explain. they just so happened to have a date that day. 

finally finding himself alone in a corridor, he smiled softly. making his way to the room of requirement, he walked smoothly, thinking of where Riley was. within no time he heard the sound of bricks shifting. Luca walked through the door and was immediately met by a warm summer breeze. some days magic amazed him. breathing in he heard a voice dance across the soft wind. something about not eating all the strawberries. “you better not.” he called out with a laugh. looking around the room until he spotted her. “we both know those are my favorite.” 

He kissed her and for a moment the world melted away. If ever Riley had doubted his feelings for her, it always was forgotten when he kissed her. Luca has always been the silent type, the person who lets his actions speak for him. And even when they shared their first kiss back in Hogwarts she knew this was real. That he was in it. He was trusting her with his heart and in turn she could do the same. And when he kissed her now, she felt it. The promise that he would return. It was something she could hold onto. Just like she was gripping his shirt right now. 

He pulled away but she was desperate for him. When he had come home the night before it was about being back together. About a reunion that took nearly 15 years. She needed him to feel comfortable and safe considering the darkness he had just experienced. But now her body was buzzing for him and she wished they had more time. Just another day, that’s all she needed. 

Eyes opening to look at him, tears no doubt falling down her face at this point, she continued to let her hands roam his face and his body. Feeling every part of him as if she could memorize him just through touch. The parts she couldn’t see, because there was no way she was looking away from his eyes right now. Not when they were both so desperate. And then he said those words, and there was a soft sob that left her lips. She knew it was true. He always would. He always did. So she nodded, letting him know she believe him. But how long this time, would they be separated? How long before he was back in her arms and she could breath easier? Those questions didn’t leave her lips, though. Just three words. Three words that didn’t need to be spoken to be known, but she said them anyway.

“I love you.“

Leaning in once more, she kissed him for dear life. Because he said he’d come back. And he always had… but there was a chance… if anything happened. If anyone found out. There were other ways this could go, and if this was their last moment together, she needed to make it count. Her lips said everything she couldn’t. I need you. I miss you. I’m terrified. Don’t die.

“Be careful.” She said against his lips. Not pulling away because just one more minute. Eyes closed, she took a deep breath, she steadied herself, before leaving his hold. She walked to the hiding place within her room where she had kept his most secret possession. His wand. Handing it over, her fingers grazed his own softly and her body craved to be pressed back into his own. She didn’t want to watch him leave, but she knew she needed to. She needed to see him for as long as she could. So she held herself before nodding at him. Letting him know she’d be okay. They’d be okay, until he returned.

he didn’t want to leave. he didn’t want to pull away. but he knew, the things he knew were worth it. the things he could pass along. protect their children. save others maybe. it could be worth it. in the beginning, he hadn’t even thought of it that way. it had been the woman in front of him that showed him that even in the darkest of shadows he could help people. Luca had never thought of helping people before. before Riley he didn’t care much for the world around him. but then he cared about her. thus caring about people she cared about. a downward spiral of empathy from there. 

“i love you.” he answered with such reverence he may as well have been praying. bringing his hands up to wipe the tears from her eyes, he answered her lips without missing a beat. pulling her close. they didn’t always need words. everything could be said in a kiss. it could speak of how just the thought of leaving her again made his heartache. the short amount of time was just enough to remind him how to breathe. just enough. 

Riley’s whispered words against his lips steeled him just a bit more. “for you. always.” instinctively fell from his lips. like a moment of deja vu. the pain in his arm. their unwillingness to let each other go. him having to leave. so many moments in their life had been like this. more then he could ever count. everytime he had to leave. and every time he made sure he came back. reluctantly he let her walk away. running a hand through his hair he tried to steady himself.  he had to be prepared for what was going to come next. 

still, he watched her. saw her pull out something he hadn’t seen in years. with a trembling hand, he reached for it. it was like nothing had changed in him. the wand fucking sang and soothed a part of his soul that had seemed ragged. with a calming breath, he finally pacified the shake in his hand. in his very soul. eyeing the embellishments on the wood that spoke of only him - a smile curved his lips. “thank you for keeping it safe for me.” he offered before moving to turn. 

if he didn’t walk away now... he wouldn’t. he would stay. hold her close. remind her of how much he loved her. what it all meant to him. remind himself what it was like to live. but he had to walk away from her. walk through that kitchen passed his children with only a glance as he held his true wand in hand. out the door, passed the wards. with a dark smoky crack, he would be gone. he would be covering up why he had left the dark lord. conveniently covering himself in some animal’s blood to make it look like he had a good time. 

so, even when he bowed deeply, kissing the edge of his lord’s robes with a practiced reverence.. behind the anger he could see that the creature that had once been a man was pleased. Luca had always been a proven favored. despite the cruciatus that tore through him, it still stood true when it lasted no more than a minute and he was allowed to rise. a skeletal hand ran over his jaw as he was given his mask once more. a place of honor. the inner circle. moving to stand next to Bellatrix he caught her eye as she swiped some of the blood off his robes. he watched as she licked it off her finger and smiled in his direction. “ready for some fun?” he whispered so softly that only she would hear as their lord walked away. 

all he got was a cackle of glee that reverberating across the room. it made him want to scream.

She paused at Nikoletta’s question, because how do you answer such a thing? Why had they continued to bring children into the world when they knew there was a chance that it could be for nothing? That they might not make it past 27, that their kids would be orphaned and would only know their parents to the point that they couldn’t even form true memories of them? Riley wasn’t trying to find the words, trying to explain what exactly it was that cause them to act that way, and found herself about to speak when a low, rough one spoke first.

She looked at her husband with surprise, having expected him to stay quiet for the day. She had no problem talking for them both. The two were close enough she could read his opinions based on the tick of his jaw or the heat in his gaze. But she still felt her lips turn upwards at his voice. Much more strangled and distressed, but he was there. He was trying, and it warmed her soul. And then she listened to his words, and her lips pursed together as she tried her hardest not to cry… again. Hearing his words, knowing the emotion he held in each word and how deeply he was thinking, it always moved her.

But then she saw the tense line of his jaw and the way his hand clenched slightly and Riley knew what was happening. She had seen that reaction too many times to count and every time she felt her stomach drop in dread. No. Not now. He can’t go now. There was still too much that needed to happen. It hadn’t even been a full 24 hours… And she knew if she had asked him to stay, had pretended not to see the physical reaction to that mark, he’d pretend as if everything was fine and continue to put off the inevitable. But Riley also knew his damn Dark Lord wasn’t forgiving and the longer he stayed the more he’d have to make up for it later.

He looked at her, those eyes so faithful and loving. She smiled tightly before turning back to the kids and Freya. “We’ll be right back… Freya, could you…?” She didn’t even need to finished the sentence for Freya to gather the children’s attention and give the two time to rise from the table and slip into their room, Riley closing the door behind them quietly so the kids wouldn’t hear this part.

“Already?” She asked, a deep sadness in her voice and she ran her hands through her hair and walked towards him. She wrapped her arms around him tightly, pressed herself into him in hopes of keeping him here forever. Becoming his anchor. “You can’t go yet.” She murmured into his chest, pulling back just enough so she could still hold him but look him in the eyes. Her hands went to his face, softly petting his long hair and caressing his cheeks. “…I just got you back.” She whispered, voice cracking just as a few tears fell. She hadn’t wanted to cry, not again. She wanted to be strong, for him and herself. But the thought of him leaving again, no idea when he’ll return, if he’ll return. It was a fear she had lived with for a decade and these last 24 hours was the first time she could breath. She didn’t want to go back there.

he knew the look in her eyes. something akin to panic. no. sadness. he moved with her when she excused them. the pain flaring at his movement but he bit down the hiss and followed into the other room. the door shutting behind them. Luca didn’t want this to be their reality. he didn’t want this moment to be the truth. all he could do was nod when she asked if it was already time for him to leave. for them to part again. less than 24 hours and he already had to let her go. but it was enough to keep him going wasn’t it? more then he had had in fourteen years. somehow he knew it would keep whatever fire he had left burning for days to come. it was barely enough.   

he brought his arms around her as she moved into him. nuzzled into her hair trying to memorize all of the new notes in her scent that wasn’t there so many years ago. instinctively he moved to mirror her. pulling apart just enough to look at her. leaning into the hands touching his face. “i’ll be back.” the words were well practice. written in stone. so many times he had said it over the years. every time it was a vow. every. single. time he came back. even straight out of fucking azkaban. he came back. it wasn’t just for her anymore. perhaps they didn’t know him yet but his children came with that vow. 

pulling away just a little more he brought his own hands to her face. letting them rest on the soft line of her jaw. Luca needed her to look at him. needed her to understand that time changed nothing between them. no matter how dark his mind had become in that hell of a place, it was never dark enough to snuff her out. his love for her would always stay the same. it was enough to ignore the shake in his arm as he brought his lips against her’s. breathing her in, he pulled her close. it didn’t last forever. despite how his hands shifted, one to rest just under her jaw to pull her close. 

when he pulled away. just enough to have a breath between them. just enough to open his eyes so he could look into her sky colored hues once more. how easy it would have been to get lost in them. to think of nothing else. resting his forehead against her’s he finally spoke again. as low as a whisper. just for her. “i’ll always come back to you.” 

As she found her place by Luca’s side, one hand locked with his own while the other softly rested on his chest, she couldn’t help but smile at the entire scene in front of her. Her children home. Her husband by her side. Sure, the situation still wasn’t ideal, and they had a lot to get through before she could take a break, but this was something that had been keeping her going for so long, that she often wondered if it’d ever really come. Seeing Luca nod, a silent agreement from him, she let out a low sigh. Maybe at least for a little bit, she could breathe easy.

As the kids began to take their seats around the table, Riley moved towards the kitchen to grab the food she had been able to scramble together in the short time she had before they arrived. Sandwiches and soup, of course soup for Luca, she placed them down on the table and encouraged everyone to take whatever they want. She even ushered Freya to take a seat. It was the least she could do for her cousin, the woman who had raised her children when she had been unable. Taking her own seat, she could feel the slight uncomfortable tension and she cleared her throat before speaking. “Ah… so. I guess I should start from the beginning.” There was a nervous tremble to her voice. How was it her children made her so scared? She just wanted them to be comfortable. She wanted them to stop feeling like strangers.

“You’re father and I met during our fifth year. We were paired up as partners for a dueling exercise and I gave him a run for his money. So we began to meet in secret, to practice even further…” And she began to tell them of their story. Of all the ups and down’s. The heartbreak and the breathtaking love. Of the pain they felt when they had to part with the kids and each other, but how the small moments of happiness they shared and would have later in life would always be worth it. She held his hand in her own the entire time, letting him know she was there. But also reminding herself the same, that he had returned. 

The kids listened intently. Elias, the growing boy, ate large and quick bites, and once or twice Riley was nervous he might choke. He was fine, and she figured he might be a nervous eater. Nikoletta took her time with her food. Eating when she was hungry, pausing when the information became intense and she really had to listen. And Katerina… well she just sat there. Plate empty. 

As the story began to end, as she caught them up to the here and now, she could see they were processing everything. Trying to comprehend the seriousness of the situation, and all their parents had gone through. Kat was the first to speak, once again. “So. Where were you this whole time?” She asked, her gaze moving from Riley to Luca. “Not you, we obviously know where you’ve been.” There was a harshness in her tone, one that Riley did not approve of one bit. Especially when it was being used towards Luca. 

“Katerina.” Her tone was a bit sharper than before, serious. One that her mother had used on her when she was speaking out of line. “You can have your feelings and opinions about myself and your father, but we’re still your parents. And I won’t just let you talk to us like that. You can be as mad and upset as you’d like, but you have to know everything we’ve done, was to make sure you three were safe and cared for. Understand if there was another way, we would’ve done it.” She squeezed Luca’s hand tightly, looking at him with a fierceness that she only had when she spoke of what they had sacrificed. 

“Why even bother having us? If it was so dangerous and risky, why even do it?” Nikoletta questioned. Unlike her sister there was no malice or spite in her tone. It was even. She just wanted to know. 

it was odd. to hear their story all from her perspective. hear it like he hadn’t lived it. part of him felt as if he hadn’t. as if it had been another life completely. it was her hand so diligently holding his that reminded him he had. the soup in his bowl sat mostly untouched. a few bites met his lips out of the sheer need to eat. Azkaban wasn’t known for the gourmet food. instead Luca listened to her raptly. his eyes looking to the table most of the time. his hand holding her’s in return with no other thought in the world. 

when his eyes travelled, he watched their children. their expressions or lack of any. the way they watched Riley with their full attention or with stubborn disbelief. just another moment in time for him to memorize. it didn’t matter that the moment was slightly tense at times. that she was spilling their secrets so easily when there would have been a time he would have died to keep them. hell, he had killed to keep them more than once. but their story wasn’t just theirs to keep anymore. it was their children’s too. 

time passed. a few more bites knowing she would worry if he didn’t. somewhere in the back of his mind, he counted down the time. it was only a matter of the dark lord’s patience. he didn’t really have any. still, Katerina’s tone caught his attention. he watched her when she dismissed where he had been as if it didn’t matter. what could she have known of it? stories. lies. things that had been woven to hide the truth. breathing in slowly he reminded himself she was a teenager. of course, she wanted answers. perhaps he would have too. of course she wanted someone to blame. he was the perfect person to lay it on. 

that didn’t stop Riley from sharply speaking to his defence. it warmed him slightly, even when he knew she didn’t need to. the squeeze of her hand didn’t do anything to stop his mind from whirling at Nikoletta’s question. it was something heavy that weighed on him when he thought it out. but the answer was entirely too simple. 

he had been selfish and couldn’t walk away from their mother again. he couldn’t pretend that his heart didn’t beat for the woman next to him. how he would have been nothing but an empty shell without her. no not empty. he would have forgotten the softness of the light. the warmth of the sun. she reminded him of what living was. how he didn’t need to soak himself in blood to live. but he had been greedy in keeping her. she could have found someone else. moved on from the shadows he brought. and yet... she never did. Luca had told her so many times that he was being selfish. eventually they decided they both were. 

“selfishness,” he answered lowly, hoarsely, turning his gaze to their youngest daughter. there was no heat in his gaze. no defensiveness. just the truth that he knew deep in himself. he didn’t know if this would answer anything. he didn’t know if it would help her understand but it was what he had to offer. “i was selfish. your mother was - is.. everything and you -,” he was robbed of his words for a moment. almost as if he was trying to decide on what to say next but if someone knew him. the twitch of his jaw. the clench of his fist. it was pain that flared up his arm but he refused to hiss between his teeth. instead, he shook his head, allowing a ghost of a smirk to tug at his lips before falling away. “you're everything.”

letting his eyes rest on the younger girl for a moment. he dragged them over the other two. trying one last time to put them to memory before looking to Riley. imploring her to understand. he would stay as long as she needed him. he would ignore the call for as long as he could. for her. the pain meant nothing when he was already burning.