Chapter Thirty-eight: Poetic Justice

Rose didn't feel completely herself again until Friday night when the ache finally disappeared. Lucius, thankfully, had taken her subtle hints and allowed her to keep to her own chambers, though he made a great show of pouting about it, complaining of his cold bed and his selfish, uncooperative servant. She laughed quietly as she set the table for lunch, remembering his teasing. When he was perfectly at ease, Lucius had the ability to be quite the jester, with a sense of humor that was as refined as the rest of him.

Her reverie was interrupted by a handsome young face appearing in the doorway and asking for the third time if lunch was ready.

"Yes, Drac," she answered blithely. "Lunch is ready. I was just waiting to see how many times you'd ask before you keeled over."

He rolled his eyes at her flip answer. "I'm hungry."

"Well, why don't you drag your noble butt into the kitchen and give me a hand? There's only one thing left to do."

It was a testament to his degree of boredom that he agreed.

A few minutes later, the only heir to the Malfoy name was chopping garlic and onions at a rolling table as the maid warmed and oiled a large skillet. Occasionally, they attempted to converse over the music pouring from the stereo on the bar, but mostly they just diced and warmed in comfortable silence. Eventually, the beat of the music slowed, the volume quieted, and Draco began asking uncomfortable questions as he gradually tipped the vegetables into the sauce Rose was stirring. The last one had caused her to nearly burn the delicate fare as she stopped moving and stared open-mouthed at her young friend.

"Well, don't gape at me, Rose. It was just a question. And, for Merlin's sake, stir that before you ruin my hard work."

She mentally shook herself and resumed stirring slowly as she contemplated her answer. All she could manage was a weak dodge. "That's complicated, Drac."

"No, it's not," he replied firmly. "You either do or you don't."

She sighed, signaling him to start adding the ground spices. "I doubt that you could understand..."

"Don't talk to me like I'm a child," he admonished. "Just tell me the truth like you always have. It's important to me."

"Why is that?"

"Because I've seen the way he looks at you, and I've never seen him look at anyone like that. I know he has feelings for you." He suddenly looked younger, vulnerable. "I'm curious to know if those feelings are mutual."

"Did he put you up to this? Because if he did..."

"Rose," he leveled a very familiar look at her, "this is my father we're talking about."

She laughed lightly, easing the tension at once. "Oh. Yeah. Good point." She pulled the pan from the eye and tipped the sauce into a serving dish. "I guess I would have to say that, yes, I do love your father, but not as deeply as I could. To love someone deeply, you have to get inside their minds and hearts, you have to really know them; the good, the bad, and the ugly. And you can't love them in spite of who they are. You have to know them well enough to love them because of who they are. You have to be close, Drac. Lucius isn't an easy man to get close to, and to be honest, I think my sanity thanks him for that mercy."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean, I don't know if I could handle any more complication. Besides, no matter what your father feels for me, I'll only ever be a servant to him. There's not much to build on there." For a moment, she felt a wave of deep sadness wash over her, but shook it off stoically. "Well, lunch is finally ready. If you'll carry this out to the table, I'll summon the man in question."

"About time." Draco rolled his eyes as he took the dish from her.

Neither of them saw the tall shadow or heard the soft swish of a summer cloak as Lucius slipped silently away from the door.

An hour later, a heated argument broke out over dessert.

"I can't believe you're doing business with her, treating her as if she's an ally," Draco slammed his fork down on the plate with a noisy clatter.

"Son, do be careful with the china, and I'm treating Miss Borgin as an ally because that's what she is. I need her to remove certain obstacles in my path, preferably before the Dark Lord demands that you take the Mark. Without her to blame for their deaths, I and Severus would be held accountable. We've been through this."

"So, you're going to let her take the fall," Draco added happily, smiling warmly up at his father.

"It won't come to that," he answered seriously. "I would be most distressed if she were harmed."

"She tried to kill me!"

"She did no such thing, and you know it," he answered coolly. "Now, stop this tantrum at once. You have no right to question my judgment."

"As far as she's concerned, I do, whether it's my right or not," he shot back. "Whenever she's involved, you seem incapable of thinking with anything other than your..."

Lucius was on his feet in an instant, never saying a word, never needing to, his imperialistic stare said it all. Draco pushed his plate aside, stood as well, then turned to leave.

"Draco Malfoy, you will wait until you are excused," Lucius said with dangerous calm.

His son never turned his head. "Stop me," was his quiet answer as he swept from the room.

Lucius regained his seat slowly, then emptied his glass. Rose was there to refill it before it hit the table. "Sometimes, I don't understand that boy," he confided.

"If you're looking for insight," she answered quietly, "you should look inside."

"I'm in no mood for riddles, Rose."

"I just meant that you'd understand him perfectly if you realized how alike you are," she clarified.

Lucius looked thoughtful, then motioned for her to sit. A second glass was summoned, filled, and placed in her hand before he spoke again.

"He feels that she broke my trust," he postulated.

"I think so," she answered, "and that you're making allowances because she's a woman, particularly, a woman who holds your interest."

Lucius looked away in disgust. "Ridiculous," he spat. "I make allowances for her because I must, because I need her."

Rose bit her lip for a moment before asking, "And, you don't feel anything for her?" His eyes shot up from the table in an alarming glare, and she spoke quickly to defuse his anger. "I'm not saying that I agree with him. I'm just curious. I mean, you seemed awfully... distracted after you spent the night with her."

His face softened and a pale hand reached to cover hers. "I was wounded, to be completely candid. It seemed that, no matter how much I gave of myself, she never trusted me."

"Should she have?"

"She could have, and I wanted her to know me well enough to understand that. I had neither desire nor reason to harm her. We could have had the world at our feet, but she walked away from that... from me. I won't deny that I had feelings for her. I still do. But, if I was distracted, it was because I was trying desperately to understand her choices."

Rose took a delicate sip of wine. "Did you ever find any insight?"

He dropped his gaze to the tablecloth. "No. I'm no closer to understanding her now than I've ever been. She is an enigma to me, a treacherous fascination, a formidable killer with a warm heart and a bizarre assemblage of ethics." He tapped the glass moodily, his eyes distant and stormy. "And, she has no concept of subservience. She is an exceptionally unmanageable woman." He broke his stare to smile at her fondly. "One can easily see why I prefer your company, pet."

Alex roughly shoved her supplies into various pockets, alternately cursing and mumbling under her breath as she did so. "'She has no concept of subservience,'" she mocked. "I'll show you who's company you should prefer, you self-important, over-manicured, little sissy-boy." "I'm 'unmanageable?'" she questioned a poisoned blade before slamming it home in its sheath. "Bastard!"

She had to calm herself to apparate to Macnair's estate, but once there, she resumed cursing Lucius silently as she crept over the wall and about the grounds, headed for the basement of the enormous house. Peeking through a dirty window, she saw that Malfoy's information had been completely accurate. There was an absolute menagerie of creatures down here, all of them chained or caged in the filthy, crowded, stone enclosure.

Lucius had written that Macnair kept the creatures for experiments, potion ingredients which fetched a fair sum on the black market, and for turning on one another for the entertainment of the other Death Eaters. Of course, Malfoy had passed the information along as a warning for her to keep away from this area, most of the creatures being quite dangerous, but the opportunity for poetic justice and an easy kill was far too enticing.

It took almost half an hour to get into the basement without being torn to ribbons, but finally she located a window next to a rafter, dispelled the wards, crawled through, and climbed out onto the beam. Another half hour passed by as she primed the locks of every fetter and cage in the room with a preliminary spell. Finally, apologizing in advance to the imprisoned creatures, she pointed her wand at a chained griffin and spoke. "Crucio."

The scream of pain from the already tortured creature nearly threw her from her perch, but she steadied herself and lifted the spell, cursing openly, angry that there was no other way. Still, the chain reaction was all that she had hoped for. The griffin lashed out at the occany which slammed a massive tail into the cage of a small, but ferocious-looking quintaped. On and on it went, spreading like wildfire until every beast that could produce sound was doing so to the best of its respective ability.

They hadn't long to scream before Macnair barged through the door, wand outstretched, and stunned the closest beast. It fell to the floor in a heap of flesh and metal. Savage eyes took in the room in one sweeping gaze, searching for the cause of the disturbance. His search, though, never rose above the head of the tallest creature in the room which was several feet below his enemy's perch. Alex laughed softly as Cimino's voice whispered in the back of her mind, "I always hide high because people never look up. It's the damnedest thing, but an almost infallible strategy."

She sobered quickly and mentally braced herself, bringing to mind everything Severus had ever taught her about disarming. Aiming carefully and focusing what little magic power she possessed, she shouted the spell... and hoped. The surprise when it worked was so complete that she almost missed the wand that flew obediently up to her perch. Quickly, she refocused her wand to close and lock the door, and spoke the releasing word for the unlocking spell.

The room was filled with the echo of a collective click as every lock in the room fell open. Almost instantly, the creatures surged forward, bent on the destruction of their tormentor. Macnair flung his full weight against the door over and over, but the spell that held it was flawless. His creatures were on him in moments, and the rest was blood and screams.

Two hours later, Rose took a breath of cool night air from the balcony of the place she was finally beginning to think of as home, and tried to relax. Don't kid yourself, honey, Alex chided. This is just a part-time gig. We're out of here next week. She sighed. As much as freedom appealed to Alex, it scared the hell out of Rose. Freedom was completely subjective, anyway. Feeling the utter helplessness as Lucius whipped her, falling into his arms when he released her from the chains that held her, seeing his name burned into her flesh, knowing that he owned her, that was freedom. That was happiness.

And, the happier she was, the more Alex fought it.

"So, this is where you hide," came a cultured voice behind her.

A yelp of surprise was his answer, and he smirked as she turned and stumbled for words.

"Something wrong, pet?" His face was far more serious than it should have been.

Rose took a deep, shuddering breath, trying to collect herself. What the hell was he doing up already? He'd never awakened from the sleeping draught this quickly. "I distinctly recall asking you to refrain from doing that, sir."

"Oh, did I startle you?" he asked with mock concern, closing the distance with a single step. In that steely voice that froze her blood, he added, "Or, is it that someone has a guilty conscience?" Rose's eyes flew open and her heart began thundering in her chest. "Perhaps you'd care to confess your transgression?" he added smoothly.

She opened her mouth to argue, but he spoke again before she could force any sound from her throat. "After all, the man whom you promised to serve faithfully, to whom you offered yourself, body and soul, spent a restless night in a cold bed, tossing and turning, awake before sunrise with no hot bath or breakfast to greet him. It's positively appalling. You should feel remorseful." She couldn't have guessed which of the myriad of emotions showed on her face, but it obviously wasn't the relief that he was joking, that she hadn't been found out, for he raised a gentle hand to her face and stroked her cheek tenderly with his thumb. "My sweet pet, you've not been yourself for days. Tell me what's unsettled you."

Rose shook her head slowly. It never failed to amaze her how caring Lucius could be. "I'm fine, sir. Really. I just haven't felt very well, lately."

"Do you need a mediwizard? I have the very best on call at all times."

She chuckled. "You have the best of everything, Lucius."

His eyes grew even softer and his voice, with them, "I certainly have the finest servant. Now, tell me what's troubling you."

Her mind touched on a fabrication that would work, and she stopped stalling. "Things have just changed so fast, and I'm still trying to catch up. I'm a little confused..."

"About us?" he interrupted softly.

"There is no 'us,' sir, at least, not to my knowledge."

"I think perhaps you have a point. As a matter of fact, I've been meaning to discuss this with you for several days, but haven't found a convenient time. Shall we adjourn to my chambers?"

"If it pleases you, sir."

He opened his mouth to respond, then closed it again, gave a quick nod, and offered his arm.

"You please me more each day, pet."

Arabella Minerva: Hi. It's good to hear from you. More than just about anything, I wanted to find a way to forge a closer bond between father and son. For two reasons: The first was that, as you mentioned, Lucius is always portrayed as being a heartless bastard of a father, and I just don't see him that way. The second reason is that my own father and I have such a crappy relationship. Healing the rift between Lucius and Draco has been somewhat therapeutic for me. Go figure. It's good to know that you understand why Marler had to die that way. I hope everyone else is as understanding. The changing POV's are apparently a bad idea. I'm going to continue to keep to my basic writing style until I finish this piece (in just a few short chapters sob) but I'll stick to a single POV in the future. I hate that it's been so confusing to my beloved readers.

Lady Jenilyn: Weenie roast: you are a trip, girl. I'm glad you approved of my depiction of Poppy. I think that, as someone who's dedicated her life to helping others, she wouldn't approve of cold-blooded murder even in the name of vengeance. Lucius is a complicated guy. I think that, half of the time, he doesn't understand what he's feeling any more than we do. I know what you mean about people pushing buttons on the net. I think that it's easy to forget that the people with whom we communicate are more than just words on a screen. It can be pretty dehumanizing. I'm sure that my darling reviewers think I'm just being silly when I offer a cup of tea and comfy chair, but I really wish I could sit down with them in person and have a face to face. I'm still not very adept at communicating with the keyboard. Anywho, how does one go about posting said link within said shrine? I'm pretty computer illiterate. It's a stretch that I managed this.

mary: You know, you don't say much, but you're a very encouraging reviewer. Thanks. Interesting question, by the way. We'll know the answer soon.

Rycca Wolfbane: Merlin's nose hairs, I missed you! I was beginning to wonder if I'd somehow offended. Sorry about your ankle. Ouch! But, I have to ask, how did you manage to twist it twice? That sounds like it would take some doing. You're right on the money about Alex, by the way. She is being split quite thoroughly down the center. Alex is untamed and in love with Severus. Rose is subservient and falling in love with Lucius. It's a little spooky to write, actually.

PPP: Yes! Rose rescued Alex. That's exactly what I was intending, there. Way to dissect! I'm so glad you got it. I was hoping that would be clear. As for the 'our Alex' comment, it wasn't idle. More to come on that.