Chapter Fifteen
Bitter Reunion
Her head felt like it was going to explode. She didn't know how much more stress she could take. She shook her head in disbelief but was soon impressed with Snape's 'perfect' timing. He stood in the doorway with absolutely no emotion etched into his pale face. He just stared. Reign looked at him with the same indifferent look, and then to Lucius, whose back was turned toward her. Severus was the night: Lucius, the day. Both men were bathed in black, but Malfoy's wardrobe suggested power, while Snape's communicated sorrow and bitterness. Lucius was slightly shorter than Severus, and his broad shoulders rounded out his muscular frame compared to Snape's long and lean build. Reign looked back to Severus and his eyes burned into hers as he spoke barely above a whisper.
"I hope I am not interrupting anything," he said menacingly. Lucius followed his gaze to the elf, whose head had dropped into her hands.
"No, not at all, Severus," he said with dripping sarcasm. "I was just leaving." He turned back to Reign and with very spiteful intentions, took her head in his hands and kissed her forehead. "I look forward to our next encounter," he whispered to her. Reign's eyes followed him as he straightened, walked to the door, and smiled at Severus before exiting. She didn't want him to go. She wished he had stayed and just been there with her. She wished anyone were with her—just not him.
"I see you and Lucius are getting along well," he stated as he stepped into the room. Reign pulled her robes back on and wrapped her arms around herself. She met Snape's blazing eyes with a pure look of innocence.
"There is nothing between us."
"The position in which I discovered you both would prove otherwise." He stood in front of her with his arms crossed and his eyebrow raised. Reign lowered her head, but Severus took a finger and raised it up again. "Two days you've been here, and already you have given your heart away again."
"There is no heart to give," she replied. "It still resides with another." His finger left her chin and he glided over to the window.
"Then your efforts have been wasted. A sinister heart will not heal a shattered one."
"Your words hurt, Severus."
"So did yours!" he shouted, whipping around to face her. As he spoke, he walked slowly toward the elf. "I never thought I would see you again. Yet here you are. What am I supposed to do?"
"Listen to the truth."
"It is hard to believe in truth these days," he said with glazed eyes.
"Will you try?" Reign asked as she lifted herself from the edge of the bed. "Please, Severus. There is so much you don't understand." She rested her hand on his chest and he instantly pulled away. Her hand went to her forehead and she kneaded the skin there as she thought of how to explain it all to him. "Jonah," she began, "he demanded that I leave--"
"I know."
"And the elders," she continued, ignoring his interruption, "they knew exactly what was going on here. They knew about the potion. They knew about us." Severus advanced on her.
"I know all of this! Why, Reign? We could have just left Hogwarts--"
"No, they would have found us. They said that if I got to be with you, then they would have to let others be with humans as well. They said it would lead to our eventual extinction."
"Who cares!?" The veins in his neck were pulsating and his face was turning red with frustration. He grabbed Reign by the shoulders and her eyes widened with fright. "Reign, you're not giving me a good enough reason!" he shouted at her.
"I left to save you!" she shouted back. Severus released her and stepped back, staring at her curiously.
"What?"
"In order to make sure I would leave, the elders gave Jonah specific instructions to kill you if I resisted." Severus looked away. His eyes softened and the color drained from his face.
"Why didn't you tell me this before?"
"Would you have let me go?" No, he wouldn't have. She stepped slowly forward. "Severus, there are not words to describe how sorry I am for what I did to you." He looked down into her emerald eyes, and his heart was torn. "But please know that I did it for love." He looked down at his feet.
"I have slowly been tearing myself apart for 18 years, wondering what happened to us--"
"We were only separated for awhile," she replaced her hand on his chest, but this time he did not back away. "Can't we start over?"
"Start over?" he repeated, pulling back. "Reign, I died that day! And ever since then I have been wandering aimlessly in Purgatory."
"I'm sorry!"
"Are you?" Reign stopped and tilted her head. She drew her eyebrows together.
"Yes! For Kor's sake I'm sorry!" she screamed. "I would give anything if I could go back. But you're alive, and here we are." She tried one last time to place her hand on him. Severus lowered his head. "I understand that you're hurt. All I ask is that we learn to respect one another again." Her hand left his chest and went to his cheek. Her bright eyes looked pleadingly into his. "I don't want to live for all eternity knowing that you hate me." Severus went numb. His heart wanted to forgive her. It screamed out at him. You don't hate her! Tell her! She's here, and she wants to love you again! Tell her! but his brain was telling him otherwise. What are you thinking? You can't take her back! Don't you remember what she's done to you? You are cold and bitter, because of her! He didn't know who to side with. And then Reign spoke again.
"I still love the man I once knew." That did it for him. He stepped back.
"I am not that man anymore," he whispered. Reign was losing him. He was walking backwards, away from her. "Because of you." And there it was. The knife in her chest. Reign's breathing increased and her eyes darted back and forth.
"No, Severus. Please." She went to grab him, but he was too quick for her. He went to the door, shaking his head.
"No, not now. This is too much. It's too soon." Reign ran to the door as he exited her rooms. But as he stalked down the hall, she did not follow him. She just yelled out to him.
"Severus!"
He did not turn back.
"SEVERUS!"
He was gone.
