CHAPTER 25
Amanda regained consciousness to the sound of laughter. It sounded almost as if a party was going on, and for a moment she thought she must have drunk too much and passed out. But as recollection dawned, she realised she hadn't done anything like that since falling pregnant with Tobias. Then she felt the cold stones under her cheek and the stinging in her knees and on her chin and realised this was no party.
Opening her eyes groggily, Amanda realised she was lying on the floor in the middle of an unfamiliar room, with people all around her, all dressed in black robes, and all ignoring her innate form. She tried to sit up, and realised her entire body was bound in thick ropes.
What the hell is going on? she thought. She didn't immediately panic; practical as always, she would only panic when there was really something to panic about. She lay there, unmoving, as she tried to get her bearings.
The room seemed very large – it almost seemed to reverberate with the voices of the many people it contained. It was also cold, even though she could see the flickering of flames from a fire reflecting from the stone walls. There was a table to her left – she could make out one end of it out but couldn't see further. And there were at least half a dozen people around her that she could see, and very likely more where she couldn't see. Much, much more than she could handle alone.
"Look who's awake," hissed an unfamiliar voice. "Lucius, you're much too harsh with your stunning spells."
Amanda felt herself being roughly lifted into a sitting position by her short, brown hair. Her eyes watered from the pain in her scalp, but she didn't cry out. Who were these bastards? Some sort of cult? If she could get to a phone, or get away, she could call the police...
"You're looking very fit and healthy, my dear," said a cold voice. "Been working out?" He laughed.
The whole room laughed sycophantically with him. She didn't answer, but her eyes flickered quickly around the room, hoping to find an exit.
Amanda looked around from her position on her scraped knees to face the voice. A man – if it could be called a man - was staring at her with slitted eyes full of cold amusement. Her lips curled in disgust as she registered his awful, snakelike, inhuman features, but she schooled her face into blankness.
"Would you like me to release you?" The man drawled quietly. When Amanda remained silent, he did likewise. She knew he wanted her to ask him to cut the ropes. No point in begging, but I'm just a little outnumbered here, her voice said quietly in her mind. She nodded imperceptibly. The man flicked his hand, holding another of those sticks of wood, in her direction. The bonds came immediately came loose around her. Her eyebrows drew together in confusion. She couldn't explain that, but now wasn't the time to unravel the world's mysteries.
Amanda got slowly to her feet to face her agressors squarely. "What do you want with me?" she asked steadily.
"Why, to finish off where we started," the man said. No one else spoke, but watched silently.
Amanda was very, very confused. This awful looking man acted as if he knew her, but Amanda knew she hadn't seen him before.
"I told you before, if you cross me, I will kill you." He stated it simply, as if it was a fact, not a threat.
Amanda now became seriously concerned. "What the hell are you talking about? I've never seen any of you before. What do you want?" she repeated.
The man before her traced his lipless mouth with a white, tapered finger, staring at her thoughtfully. "Crucio!" he said lazily as he flicked the piece of wood in her direction.
Amanda once again found herself on the floor writhing. She grit her teeth – she would not cry out. The pain was unbearable – her eyes watered and she tasted blood as she bit her tongue, but no sound escaped her lips.
The pain ceased. "You are stronger than when we last met, but it would not take long for me to render you a gibbering heap. So, would you like to continue your little game?"
Amanda struggled to her feet the moment the pain stopped. Pride gave her strength. She would not grovel before these people, whoever they were. "I speak the truth," she panted. "I don't know who you are or what you want with me, and I demand you let me go!" her voice became steadier as she went.
The ugly one raised the stick-thing again and pointed it at her, but before he could speak the words he was interrupted. "My Lord." It was the black haired man who seemed familiar to her. "My Lord," he said again. "Her memories have been removed. She does not know who you are. She speaks the truth." He echoed her words.
A hairless eyebrow on the Lord-guy raised. "Obliviate?" Amanda didn't understand the question. And why wouldn't they say his name? Lord who? If she could get a name, she would know who to tell the police, and make this prick and his buddies answer for their crime.
The black-haired man nodded. "Even more so. I believe they have been entirely removed, and replaced with those of a Muggle." Muggle?
The Lord laughed lightly. "Oh how typically Albus Dumbledore. He knew I would not kill her unless she realised who she was. Where are her memories now?"
Silence answered his question. The lord's face was no longer pleasant. "Where are they?" he demanded. "I will kill this woman tonight. She will pay for defying me. She has lived too long already, and I will see this matter done. Where are they?"
Amanda trembled where she stood, the cold infusing her bare legs and arms. She had no idea what was going on, who these people were, or what it was they thought she had done. Her lips were numb, but she would not beg.
"You will require these, my Lord," a soft, musical voice, a woman's voice, said from the back of the room.
As one, the body of people turned to face the new person. Amanda heard the woman's steps as they lightly tread across the stone floor towards her and her aggressor. As she faced her, she almost gasped. She was the most beautiful woman Amanda had ever seen, and what was so confusing was she seemed so familiar. Her pale face was ageless – she could have been twenty-five or fifty-five, or even one hundred and five, but her cold face was unlined. Her floor length jet black hair seemed to throw a darkness around her as she walked, and Amanda noticed the people in the room seemed to shy away from that darkness, and that they watched this woman warily. Her eyes, just as black, were cold and expressionless as she walked towards the Lord, who still stood in front of Amanda.
As she reached him, she held out a glass vial with a label – one Amanda couldn't make out. "These are Aeryn Allen's memories, my Lord," she clarified, and handed the vial to the Lord as if she was bestowing a knighthood on him.
The Lord glanced at the beautiful woman amusedly. "Thank you, Jahren. As always, your services are of the highest kind. I wouldn't even begin to understand how you came by them."
The woman, Jahren, didn't answer, but turned to face Amanda, scrutinising her features. "Something isn't right," she said, half as if she wasn't even talking to her, but to someone else. She took a few steps towards Amanda, and held out a soft, white hand, drawing the younger girl around to face the light of the fire. The black haired woman took in the bloodied chin and knees of Amanda, and touched the younger woman's cheek lightly, making Amanda flinch slightly.
Jahren's eyes momentarily seemed to soften as she perused the young, brown haired girl, who could not tear her eyes away. She reached back and pulled out the messy ponytail Amanda had done as she left for her jog, letting it hang loosely to her narrow shoulders. Running her thin white fingers through the brown hair, she said absently, "This isn't how I left you." And as her fingers ran through the brown locks once more, Amanda's hair changed from dark brown to pale blonde, seeming to grow from her scalp, and curling as they grew longer. Jahren's fingertips trailed down towards the floor, and the blonde, wavy hair grew with the movement, stopping at the girl's hips.
Amanda gasped and took a step back, holding the long, curly blonde locks that fell about her body disbelievingly. "What have you done? What is this crap?" she cried.
Jahren looked at her calmly, but her finger tapped her lips as she studied the young woman. "No, that isn't right either," she mused, and reached once more for the young woman. Amanda took several hurried steps backward. "Hold still," Jahren muttered, and Amanda felt herself complying.
The pale fingers once more trailed through Amanda's hair, and the blonde hair darkened to black, almost as black as Jahren's own, but still wavy, as opposed to Jahren's dead straight hair. "That's better," she said softly, her eyes still cold. "That is how I left you."
She turned to the Lord, who had watched these proceedings silently. Her black eyes seemed to glow from within. "You may restore her memories to her now. It is only fitting she understands what is going on before you try to kill her." Several people in the room gasped at the implication that the snake man would be unable to complete his execution. Jahren said nothing more, simply smiled coldly. And she turned and left, as quietly and as gracefully as she had come.
The Lord still had an amused turn to his lips. As Jahren left, he murmured, "I would kill her for her insolence if she wasn't so useful." He clicked his fingers, once. "Severus. Restore this woman to her rightful self."
The familiar, black-haired man took the vial from the Lord. "At once, my Lord," he murmured respectfully.
Amanda took a step back away from the one called Severus as he approached, but found her arms locked in a firm grip by someone behind her. The weirdness of the days' turn of events caught up to her, and Amanda now knew a desire to escape that was almost suffocating. She forcefully slammed her heel into the in-step of the person behind her, gaining a grunt from them, but more importantly, a slackened grip. She pulled from their grasp, and spinning, threw a backfist into that person's face.
She didn't watch the man fall to the floor, already she heard someone coming up behind her. The black-haired familiar man, the one she had heard call Severus, was rushing up behind her. She snapped a quick side kick at his midsection, catching him in the ribs, and causing him to stumble, winded. Before she could flee, however, pain once again radiated through her body, and she found herself writhing on the flagstones.
"Stop!" she finally managed to gasp out, hating herself for the weakness that made her cry out.
The pain lingered for an eternal second more, then gradually declined, leaving Amanda shuddering on the floor. She raised pain-shrouded eyes to the one that could hurt her so, and noticed a thin, satisfied smile on his flat face.
"Avery? Severus?" he gestured to the two men gracefully, and spoke so quietly.
Amanda watched a man with a bloody nose descend on her. Once again she felt herself hoisted to her feet by the convenient handle of her hair, which was now considerably longer and half obscuring her vision. Strong arms wrapped around her torso, pinning her arms to her sides painfully. She shook her hair from her eyes in time to see the one called Severus holding his own stick-thing in front of him, and his sallow face turned towards the glass vial that was floating in mid air. Amanda barely had time to register this impossible feat when the stopper came out, along with it a silvery substance that also floated towards her.
A small sound escaped Amanda's throat as she struggled harder than ever, trying to simultaneously step on the toes of her jailer and smash the back of her head against his already broken nose. The air was squeezed from her lungs as he held on tighter, tucking his head low so she couldn't hurt him, only watch with widened, fear filled eyes as the substance that wasn't liquid or gas float towards her face. The arms pushed her away at the last possible second.
A flood of images bombarded the young woman when the substance touched her.
Alexander Allen, his blonde curly hair fluttering in the breeze.
Their house.
Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall. "How on earth did you manage to transfigure Ryan into a pig? You're only in your first year!"
Severus Snape. Their wedding day. "I think, whatever happens, you are part of the equation now."
Voldemort. "You will bend to my will, or I will break you."
The young woman shuddered and her body clenched at the images. Then came the feelings.
Despair. Her father was dead.
Fear, wholly and completely consuming her as she watched Voldemort descend upon her.
Happiness, contentment, as she brushed the black hair of the man in front of her.
Love, as she lay entwined in his arms at night. Severus, her lover.
Betrayal, as his cold eyes appraised her in the house where they had been married.
Rage. Rage at what had been done to her.
She felt an awesome power building in her chest, and as she opened her eyes to loose it on the whole room, her black hair fell in front of her eyes and drew her gaze, reminding her of how she had attained it. Her mother was here somewhere.
"Mum" she gasped like the air had been let out of her chest, and fell once again to her knees that had somehow healed themselves while she was locked in the tumult of her mind. She knew her mother was alive.
No, your mother is at home, looking after your son.
The woman on the floor grasped her head as if she could hold in the clamour in her mind. Minds.
Aeryn.
And Amanda.
There were still two people in her head.
"Look at me."
The voiced spoke softly, hissing in her ears, intruding into her tangled thoughts.
But it was Aeryn who raised her head, and looked into the terrible face of Lord Voldemort. She couldn't speak. She could hardly comprehend what was happening around her. The two minds were in conflict. Aeryn knew what was happening but had not come to terms with it. Amanda struggled to understand what was going on.
"Who are you?" The Dark Lord whispered sinisterly.
Aeryn shook her head, trying to gather her fractured mind into some semblance of order. Amanda's defiance broke through. "Go to hell", she whispered.
A listless feeling, almost a stupor, fell over her. Who are you? A voice asked. Answer me, it commanded. Tell me your name.
Amanda shook off the stupor fogging her brain, dragging Aeryn with her. She glared up at the man who stood before her who was trying to force an answer from her. She would defy him with every fibre of her being. "Fuck you," she spat, fully realising they would probably be her last words.
And once again pain, pain unlike anything she had ever felt radiated through her body. She felt as if every bone was being ground to powder, every muscle fibre torn. As she writhed on the floor she expected to feel the blood dripping from every pore, to feel her skin being ripped from her body. And she screamed, screamed until her throat was raw.
"ANSWER ME!" Shouted the source of her pain.
And Aeryn Allen screamed her name in defeat. Because that was who she was. Amanda was still there, but this was Aeryn's body, Aeryn's life.
The pain stopped, blessedly. Aeryn lay on the floor, huddled in defeat, tears pushed from her eyes, but Amanda's pride holding them silent.
"Well. Aeryn. Aeryn Allen, the woman who has defied me from the beginning. You will finally be made an example of. No one will remember you without remembering the way you died, painfully, messily, with no dignity. I'm calling in your debt." Voldemort said flatly as he held his wand gracefully aloft, its tip pointed at the figure shaking at his feet, where he had tried to get her from the beginning. "Goodbye."
But as he drew breath to mutter that final, fatal curse, Severus interrupted. "My Lord," he interjected, hoping his voice wasn't shaking from built up tension. He ignored the pain in his side from Aeryn's kick. He tried to suppress the tumult in his mind from watching her screaming on the floor. He must word this carefully, or she would die. "My Lord, please. Give her to me."
Voldemort paused as he looked at his second in command. "You would dare ask such a thing? Now?"
"My Lord, forgive me. This woman will suffer personally at my hands for what she did. I swear to you, she will pay. Let me do it – let me take her life for you. But give her to me first, to...to-"
"Satiate your lust on?" Voldemort inquired spitefully. Severus bowed his head, as if he was ashamed.
"She has flaunted herself before me for years at Hogwarts, thinking she was too good for me. I would show her how wrong she is. And I promise you, she will experience torment as never before, and rue the day she crossed you."
Voldemort, his wand still held out towards the trembling woman, looked at the man before him thoughtfully.
Then slowly, slowly he lowered his wand. "You may have her, Severus. Because you have always been loyal to me. Because you did what Draco could not, and kill my one true enemy. But you must not kill her. When you're done, you will give her to McNair. Then to Goyle. Then to Nott. And she will go through my ranks until she is dead. Is that clear?" Severus nodded.
Aeryn looked in horror at the snake face, and when his slitted eyes turned to look at her, they were so cold. "Take her, then." He muttered, and turned away, already dismissing her.
Strong arms grasped her again. "No!" she screeched, and loud guffaws filled her ears as she struggled, her hair wrapping around her body and preventing movement. She lashed out wildly as fear consumed her, fighting for all she was worth, and her fists connected with various body parts of her opponents.
Just as she thought she would escape the many hands that struggled to hold her, the voice of Severus betrayed her. "Incarcerous!"
Strong ropes suddenly bound her upper body, and she fell full length to the floor. She managed to lift her head and glare wordlessly into his black, unemotional eyes, but words escaped her in her fury. She watched as he walked slowly to her, and bent to pull her into a standing position. She screeched again, both Muggle and Wizard explicit language spewing from her mouth, but it hardly made sense.
"Tsk, tsk," he admonished in his smooth baritone, and slapped her lightly across the mouth for the benefit of those watching. "We will have to cut out that tongue."
Aeryn stood before him, helpless, hopeless, but refused to give the watching room the pleasure of seeing her beg for her life. Instead she turned her head away, and let herself be led from the room. She might have her memories back, but Amanda was still inside her, and the martial artist was continuing to look for an escape. One opponent was better than twenty, even if it was the man she once loved. The man she hated now.
As they descended the stairs to Malfoy's dungeon, for, she realised, that was where they were headed, they found the door barred by McNair. He stood impassively in their way. "Something amiss?" Severus drawled.
McNair grunted, and his lips stretched into a leer as he perused Severus's captive. "Don't take too long. It's my turn next."
Severus pushed roughly passed the man, and pulled Aeryn into the dungeon, throwing her roughly to the floor. "Don't wait up," he said with a smirk, as he slammed the door behind him in McNair's face.
By the time Severus turned to face her, Aeryn had rolled over her back and was standing to face him, her arms still bound. He raised an eyebrow in surprise. Flicking a wand in her direction, he muttered, "Relashio. Evidently you have changed considerably over the last eighteen months. We have much to talk about, but - "
He was interrupted by Aeryn's shriek as she lunged at him. No martial arts this time – her fury was too great. Instead, her fingers shaped like talons, she tried to claw his eyes out.
Severus struggled with her, holding her hands away from his face. "Will – you – desist?" he ground out angrily. "Dammit, Aeryn!"
"You-you...you son of a bitch! You bastard! You betrayed me! And Hogwarts! And everyone! You betrayed me to him!" She yelled in his face, and continued to try to reach his face, to claw out his eyes, the eyes she had once loved so much. He grunted when her shoe connected with his shin.
Pushing her roughly away, he drew his wand and levelled it at her. "Stop it! You always were more emotional than rational, but we don't have time for that now!" he snapped.
She watched him warily."What - you think I'm going to let you rape me? Isn't that what you had planned?" she spat out.
"Hardly. I'm going to put my life on the line – once more – for you. I need to get you out of here!"
Aeryn looked at him disbelievingly, and in that moment of hesitation, Severus moved. All the tension and suspense, the fear and dread, and not knowing where she was for such a long time, pushed him forward. He pulled her roughly to him and kissed her deeply, threading his fingers through her long black hair, holding her tightly against his body. "Aeryn, my Aeryn. I've missed you. I worried about you. Kiss me back," he commanded, as she struggled against him.
Aeryn pushed against his chest as his kisses took the strength from her. To Aeryn, it was only days since she had seen him last. To Amanda, who was aware of the passage of time and recognised that months had passed since she saw him, and missed him terribly, even if he had betrayed her. She held her face away from his mouth, trying to breathe; to maintain a sense of self-control and not give into the fire that was consuming her. "You betrayed me," she gasped. "I remember! You and Bellatrix and Gwyneth, that night! I won't give you what you want – never again."
He held her imprisoned, kissing her neck as she strained away from him, breathing hard. Suddenly he stopped and pulled her focus to his eyes. "I never betrayed you," he said clearly and calmly. "You are mine. I would have given my life to save yours, but I had to try to maintain my position in the Dark Lord's forces and fulfil a vow that has less meaning to me now than it once did. You always knew there was more at stake than you and me. And you also know, deep down, that I would never let them take you from me." Her eyes narrowed as she tried to reconcile what her ears heard with what her mind remembered. "We don't have time for this," he said abruptly, pushing her away, as if it had been her trying to seduce him. "I need to get you out of here. Now."
"So it's true!" A flat voice jeered from the door, which neither of them had heard open. "I heard The Dark Lord had finally found dear Aeryn after all this time, but I didn't believe I'd be so fortunate that it would be true." The cold, beautiful face of Gwyneth Gillies spat at them from the doorway. She moved inside and Severus noted the inert form of McNair sprawled in the hallway.
"And then I hear that Severus is so desperate to have her, he stopped the Dark Lord almost in mid-curse to beg him for her body." Gwyneth's eyes raked the younger woman's toned frame with disgust. "And then when I come to finally give myself some satisfaction, maybe not quite like yours Severus, I hear you plotting to free your one true love. How interesting." She held her slim wand aloft and pointed at the both of them, still standing close together, and indicated that Severus should drop his wand.
"I'm the last thing your father saw before I killed him, too."
Gwyneth's words echoed in Aeryn's mind as the memory returned, and she barely heard the next words from the red haired woman's mouth. "The Dark Lord shall be pleased when I tell him that's the reason why I killed you both. Oh..." she gave a little shudder of pleasure, "and I so want to kill you Aeryn. I'm really quite vexed with you, especially when I find you are with him" – she indicated Severus – "after I tried for so many months to have him."
Aeryn raised her eyes to the level of Gwyneth's. "You killed my father," she whispered softly, flatly, the rage that was beginning to build inside of her showing in her black eyes. Severus's body jerked at this information, but before he could react to the news, the room seemed to grow dimmer, smaller, and yet another figure emerged from the dark hallway, stepping delicately over McNair's body.
"You killed Alexander Allen?" asked the musical voice of Aeryn's mother Jahren. "And now you're here to kill Aeryn Allen?" There was not a trace of accusation in her voice, she merely sounded curious.
Gwyneth started at the soft voice, and although her expression did not change, her face paled somewhat. "Imagine meeting you here Jahren. Come to help your daughter? I was so sure you were helping the Dark Lord all these years. Yes, I killed Allen, with some help from Dolohov. Does that mean anything to you Jahren?" she asked aggressively. "If you wish to retaliate because I killed your noble husband, I can still scream loud enough for someone to hear before you kill me. And then you'll die as well, unless of course you wish to help me, and prove your loyalty to the Dark Lord," she suggested in a forced casual tone.
"But how will anyone know, Gwyneth, if you can't scream?" Jahren stated softly, her expression unchanging. Gwyneth cocked her head slightly as if pondering the Sorceress's words, then her eyes widened as she realised she was mute. Gwyneth gasped and pointed her wand towards the ceiling, evidently about to perform a non-verbal spell, but found her wand turning to ash in her hands.
Suddenly Aeryn's hands were about Gwyneth's throat. Sided with the Dark Lord or not, Jahren evidently meant to kill Gwyneth for the murder of Alexander Allen, but not unless Aeryn beat her to it. Aeryn gritted her teeth, and squeezed.
Soft white hands touched her wrist, and the feeling left her fingers. Aeryn found she was kneeling on the floor, Gwyneth gasping for breath in front of her, and Jahren standing quietly beside her. You are not a murderer, came the voice of her mother in her head. You are not like me.
And as Gwyneth lifted her pain filled eyes to the both of them, realisation widened her emerald green eyes a moment before life left them completely, and she toppled over to lay sprawled on the dungeon floor.
Severus looked to the both of them, wondering which of them had killed Gwyneth. Deciding it didn't matter, he grasped Aeryn by the arm and pulled her to her feet. "Now we really have to get out of here," he muttered.
"Forgive me, but I can't allow you to do that," Jahren said calmly. Both Aeryn and Severus snapped their eyes back to the beautiful, calm, black haired Sorceress who stood before them, who stood watching them with an amused expression on her flawless face. Severus, who had regained his wand while his wife had her hands around Gwyneth's throat, pointed it at Jahren. "I know your power," he said carefully, "but I won't allow your daughter to die tonight. If I have to kill you to meet that end, I will. I'm no amateur wizard."
Jahren smiled faintly. "Of that I have no doubt, but you cannot stop me, Severus dear. I hope you don't mind me calling you 'dear', you are, after all, my son in law." Aeryn's eyes were glued to her mother's face. Twenty years of unanswered questions made her tongue thick, and she didn't know where to start. "Why?" she mumbled. "Why did you join him?" she asked, her voice shaking. "And why did you help me now, only to refuse us freedom?"
Jahren came and stood before her daughter, almost a mirror image. She laid a hand lightly along Aeryn's jaw, and the pain in her musical voice was profoundly evident. "A mistake, my love. I couldn't ignore my baser nature. Voldemort's power called me to him, and the rewards he offered were great. Before I knew it, I was embroiled too deeply to get out. That's why I left you, after I made that final mistake of joining him, and my own people, to destroy his kind," she glanced at Severus.
"But tonight I plan to rectify that. Especially after learning that that" – she indicated the corpse lying on the floor – "killed my husband. And I never had the chance to explain...so many things to him. I loved him Aeryn, no matter what else happened, I loved your father. And you." She cupped her daughter's face in her hands, her eyes drinking in Aeryn's features. "I knew you would be like me, darling. I could feel that about you when you were dozing beneath my heart. And I feared for you, that you would turn out like me. Weak, obsessed with power. And so angry. I tried to suppress my instincts, and your father tried to help, but we both failed. And I thought that if I left, you would have more of a chance to be good, really good, and do something with your life. And I can see that you are more like Alex than like me, and for that I am truly grateful."
She turned to look sternly at Severus. "Severus, I won't allow you to expose yourself and your position to save my daughter. I, however, have lived a long time, and have many regrets. I was never one for melodrama, but I can save her, and leave you in a position to bring Lord Voldemort down, one day, with the help of the Boy Who Lived. Voldemort will never suspect you. In so doing maybe I can, in some small way, redeem my soul."
"You're going to suicide?" Aeryn asked, with confusion on her face. Then her eyes flashed. "What, with no explanation? Just pop back into my life long enough to get yourself killed, and leave me to pick up the pieces? You owe me more than that!" she yelled into her mother's face. "You left me when I was just a kid, and now, not an hour ago, I find out you're still alive, but you're planning on changing that very suddenly?" Aeryn grabbed the older woman by the shoulders and shook her. "You left me!" she cried, her voice breaking. "You left me!"
Jahren's eyes were only filled with pity. "My darling, I never left you. Even though you couldn't see me, I always watched." She traced her fingers down Aeryn's tortured, wet face. Her eyes went still with concentration, and stared relentlessly into Aeryn's. The younger woman's breathing became rapid and shallow, and her eyelids fluttered. Something seemed to pass between the two women.
Severus decided it would be prudent to step in at the point. His arm came between the two women. "What are you doing?" he snapped at Jahren. "Stop it! You're hurting her!"
Jahren's eyes dropped, and Aeryn drew a deep, shuddering breath. "I understand," she said softly, her face filled with a sort of wonder. "I think."
Severus looked at both of them in confusion, but was saved the trouble of saying anything when Jahren interrupted. She looked at Severus, all business. "Enough. Aeryn, we must part ways now." She took a step back. A small sound, like a cat being tortured, escaped from Aeryn's throat, and her eyes took on a wild look. "No! " she gasped, reaching for Jahren. "No, I won't let you kill yourself for me!" She struggled against Severus's arms that had suddenly stopped her from following.
"You will." Jahren said coldly. "This is the only way I can forgive myself, and hopefully, your father will understand and forgive me too." She smiled sadly. "I'll give him your love. Oh, and Aeryn? Take care of my grandson."
Jahren looked at Severus and then at Aeryn. "Give me three minutes, then Aeryn can walk out the front door. Severus, I must hurt you, or they will not believe you are innocent of collaboration."
Severus hesitated, glanced at Aeryn, then nodded. "I am putting my wife's life into your hands. If you are lying, I will find you, and if you are not dead, then I will rectify that." He turned to Aeryn, whose expression was tortured. "Aeryn. Go to my house. Do not argue. I will meet you there, and we will have this out. Do not even think of disobeying me."
Jahren's eyebrows raised in amusement, but she said nothing as Severus faced her squarely. A small smile played about her lips as she focused on him. Severus suddenly collapsed, a red swelling already on his forehead attesting to the silent injury he just sustained.
Jahren glanced at her daughter, and pressed an object into Aeryn's hand. "He really does love you, you know. And he never betrayed you."
With those words, she turned, and was gone before Aeryn had time to say goodbye.