For the Climb to the Top of Mount Potter Challenge (shame) and the 100 Ways to Say I Love You Challenge ('We'll figure it out.")
"Druella?"
She bites her lip, her body trembling. "I should have written you first. It is improper for me to show up unannounced like this."
Abraxas looks over his shoulder, no doubt checking that Acanthia isn't within earshot. His lips pressed tightly together, he steps outside, closing the door behind him. He links his arm with hers, escorting her away from his manor. "What are you doing here?" he asks. "You made it clear after the last time that we cannot continue this affair."
Druella swallows dryly. She wants to turn to him, to throw her arms around him and cry. But the shame is too heavy. She keeps her eyes straight ahead. "It was for the best," she says, her voice small.
It was a decision that broke her heart. But that was not the worst of it.
"Abraxas… I love you," she says.
"And I love you. I will never forgive myself for not appealing to your father sooner."
She closes her eyes. Perhaps it would be easier if he didn't love her, if she were just a some nameless face as the source of his lust. But it isn't that easy. It never is.
"Because I love you, I felt that you should know…"
Her breath catches as she inhales. Suddenly, it feels as though there is no air left in the world.
Abraxas takes her by the shoulders, turning her so that she faces him. "What is it, Druella? Is it Cygnus? If he's hurt you, I swear-"
"No. It's not Cygnus," she whispers.
She takes his hand, guiding it to her stomach. His eyes widen as understanding sets in.
"Mine?"
She nods. "Once I realized, I had no choice but to bed my husband," she tells him. "We haven't been intimate in months. Even Cygnus is smart enough to know that that's not how pregnancy works. I- I don't know what to do, Abraxas."
His touch is gentle in a way that Cygnus could never manage. He touches her as a human, as a lover, not as a thing, as property. "We'll figure it out, Druella," he assures her, pressing a chaste kiss to her forehead.
Her lips quiver as they pull into an almost smile. His reassurance is so lovely and yet so cruel. It is not their place to figure this out together. He has a wife, and she has a husband. If they had respected this, then they wouldn't be in this situation now.
"I could never ask you-"
"Then don't. You don't have to. I have Bellatrix and Andromeda dearly. Cygnus will think nothing of it if I'm in this child's life as well."
Druella feels tears sting her eyes. She had expected him to be angry, to call her careless, to blame her. But, as always, Abraxas is nothing but kind to her. She feels a twinge of resentment. It should have been him that she married, not her brute of a husband.
"You want me to keep it?" she asks.
"Yes. This is the child that should have been. This is the child that was conceived out of love, not out of duty."
Druella smiles. Maybe, just maybe, everything will be okay.